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Friday, February 28, 2003
Team GamePlan went to Aquaventure Reef Club in Anilao, Batangas on the first weekend of Feb for producers Camille, Karen, Gie, and Ramil’s first checkout dive. Yippee! It was also Ramil’s birthday, so that made it extra special. I was supposed to be part of the batch if it wasn’t for my migraines last December, but I still had a blast skin diving and playing with the bubbles of the scuba divers. Haha! Those bubbles looked so pretty from the surface. It was like being inside a screensaver! Joy, Gretch and Carlo dove with the gang in Mainit Reef. Tantan was the newbies’ dive instructor, Buko our kulit underwater cameraman, and Ogs the dive master, and I followed them and their bubbles until they disappeared into 30 feet of dark blue. I was already so far from the bangka that I almost got run over by one! On my way back, struggling against the current, I saw a puffer fish, a porcupine fish, a moray eel, and a university of barracudas that freaked me out. The divers, however, had a really good dive, especially the first timers. They saw five white tip sharks, the same school of barracudas, and lots of pretty corals that they recognized from the diving footage in the office. The veteran divers thought that the checkout was too good to be true. I figured God must’ve said, “Hey, let’s give these kids a break,” and he sent all those beautiful creatures to Mainit Reef. For their second dive, we went to Cathedral Reef. It’s called Cathedral Reef because there’s a stone cross at the bottom. Again I wasn’t able to follow them all the way down, but the crew and I saw an eagle ray swim by our bangka. At the bottom, the divers fed the fish and according to them, the fish were really matakaw. When Tantan and the 4 students ascended, I got to play around with the veterans down below. I was making sisid ala-Muro Ami and waving at them, and when I went up for air, Carlo and Buko taught me how to breathe from their octopus regulators. So I put the mouthpiece of Carlo’s reg into my mouth and held his and Buko’s hands so that I could descend with them. It was difficult for me since I didn’t have any weights on, nor did I have a gas tank, but I flapped my fins and went as deep as I could and the experience was like being kidnapped by mermen with Part of Your World playing in the background. It was really fun and I found breathing underwater way cool. It felt like my dream of becoming an aquanaut was close to coming true, until I felt the squeeze. I had to equalize the painful pressure in my ears and in order to do that, you’ve to ascend a little and suspend yourself until the pressure lessens. But I was so buoyant without the weights that staying at almost 8 feet below was too exhausting. So I left Carlo’s side and sped to the surface for air. Back at the beach, we freshened up and collected our experiences and we definitely felt a good change in ourselves and in the team. We finally found one sport that we could do together and it was an enriching and fulfilling sport where competition was not a factor at all. We also found the reason why we do what we do for a living. The night before, we had what we call Planning. Every department has Planning where the employees evaluate the previous year and make plans for the year to come. In many ways, 2002 was a good year. We got a lot of projects for the company and we still have faithful clients who believe in what we deliver. But 2002 was also very difficult with seasonal burnouts and shoots that required so much physical strength that we ended up sick the next day. Frankly, I felt that my body was giving up on me. In this shoot, however, we not only learned how to scuba dive. We got a refresher course on how to live the GamePlan lifestyle, and we were reminded of why we chose to work for this show: Love, baby! We love our show. We love sports, we love the outdoors, we love our stories, and we love each other. It’s all for one and one for all. We’re working to keep the show alive, to keep the team together and, as Gretchen would put it, to save the world through sports. Haha! *** I’ve always been a pretty good skin diver. Having been a varsity swimmer really helps, but I just really love the water. I’m a regular fish out of water, a real clutz on land but a natural in the water (Hmmm, said "water" a lot.); and I’ve been dying to take scuba lessons since I discovered the Discovery Channel in high school. Since I don’t seem to be afraid of open water (Actually, it freaks me out to death! Which is why I’d love to dive with a big group. :) Tantan said that I’d make a good diver. So he and I worked something out and as of now I’ve already had 2 pool sessions with classmates Porna Lanto(Short for Pornasalam.) and Billie Lee (She's the cute friend of Trinka and Ramon.). Hey, I’m not one to be left behind! In fact, I’ve already been researching on some dive stories! Uy, excited. My checkout dive is next weekend. Woohoo! I can’t wait to hit the beach. *** If you want to see what our producers went through, do watch our diving special this Saturday. And if you want to take scuba lessons yourself, then visit aquaventure.com for more details. You won't regret it.  Me breathing through Carlo's octopus reg.  Carlo feeding the fish with the bread in his mouth.  A school of barracudas.  Team GamePlan feeding the fish in Cathedral Reef.  Camille having a grand time in the water.  Tantan making bubble rings.
Thursday, February 27, 2003
If you or your friends are interested at a career in a telecommunications company, there are three positions available - Account Managers, Research Associate, and Marketing Associate (Ads & Promo, events, etc.). Just email your resume or send it to the address below. PHILCOM CORPORATION 6/F, PhilCom Bldg., 8755 Paseo de Roxas, Makati City Tel : (632) 816 2851 loc 450 Fax : (632) 818 6670 E-mail : dsdaroza@philcom.com *** TBWA is looking for 5 account managers. If you're interested (or know of anyone who is), just mail your resumes to tbongco@tbwa-smp.com. Freshgrads are welcome.
 My sister Carla lent me money (Dang, I'm that broke.) to see the much awaited Daredevil in Town. We met up with Jay Ignacio and to our surprise, the Juliano couples Miggy-Tanya and Diego-Betts were there, too. The house was packed, so we settled in the second row, excited and restless. The movie started out nicely with a good performance from Scott Terra who played the young Matt Murdock. I enjoy watching how superheroes discover and become superheroes, like when Peter fooled around with his new arachnid powers and Clark ran parallel a speeding car. But I love how life-threatening Murdock's discovery seemed to be. The effects used to portray his heightened senses (A sort of sonar, like echo location for dolphins.) after having been exposed to some toxic liquid was really cool, and he starts having fun with it and learns to stand up for himself in spite of his blindness. Then there's the tragic moment in life that sets the hero into his journey to serve justice and protect mankind. Bruce Wayne lost his parents, Peter Parker lost his uncle, and in this case, Matt Murdock lost his father. Young Murdock calls for his father, bends down to feel his dead body, and sniffs out a red, red rose. He takes it in his hand and squeezes it with all his angry might. Then the lights go on. Putang ina! Diego laughs at me and I say, "Ganda ng movie, no? Woohoo! Great, great." Something went wrong with the reel and it took them about 3 minutes to get it fixed. Bummer. Technically, the movie had some stupid lines and shots that made me groan or laugh in disgust. The edit was cool but with a bit too much fluff that I couldn't exactly understand how the fight's were going. Majority of the shots were way cool, nicely set up for slowmos and flashy action. Some were a little too dark, though, but at times it was the darkness with crisp lines of light that stood out. Music kind of sucked. The love scene was disappointing, but the kiss in the rain was really something. Worthy of a wallpaper in my romantic book. :) All in all, I was a little disappointed. I saw the movie Sunday thinking shit, that was pretty bad. By the next day, however, I realized that Ben Affleck played Daredevil and Murdock quite well. I've never read the comics, but even if the movie was sprinkled with cheesy lines ("I'm not the bad guy.") and cheesy shots (The scene where he dresses up in the movie for the first time reminded me so much of Schumacher's Batman and Robin.), Murdock still stood out. He was interesting, charming even, and very, very troubled. I mean, the poor guy has to sleep in a capsule filled with water just to have a good night's peace. Now I understand why he's a favorite, and I love that Affleck didn't go over the top nor bland with this one. He must've felt so much pressure from himself since Daredevil was one of his favorites. I heard he even wrote an issue with Kevin Smith, who by the way has an amusing cameo in the movie. And before I forget, Jennifer Garner as Elektra was awesome. Idol! Well, I hated Elektra's duel with Murdock when they first met, but Garner was fantastic. And she did most of her stunts. God, I wish Alias was in English here. Strange Pinoy networks. Colin Farrell as Bullseye was a riot, but only a one dimensional riot. And I heard a lot of complaints about Michael Clarke Duncan playing Kingpin, but I thought he was ok. Hardly saw him really. I guess that's why people complained. And Jon Favreau as Murdock's best friend Foggy was a real comic relief. I loved him. I think that Foggy and Elektra were the best-written characters in the movie. Sort of like Han Solo and R2D2 with CP30. Compared to Spiderman the movie, which I enjoyed tremendously (I watched it 6 times I think and Toby Maguire became my instant crush.), I think I appreciated Daredevil more. Now don't get me wrong! Daredevil the movie was bordering on bad! And Spiderman had everything I liked! Flying, swinging, jumping, romance...well, it also had its share of stupidity ("You make me feel that I can be me." -- Mary Jane. Hey, hey, it's a nice line! But dude, Kirsten Dunst's delivery was hhhhorrible.). Spiderman the movie rocks, but Daredevil the character is really amazing. He's the man with no fear! So even if I didn't feel the hype of this movie, I certainly fell in love with the character. Hell, he makes me want to read the comics. By the way, I liked his costume. :)   
  Jacqueline with her father. 1999  The car after being hit by a drunk driver.  45 seconds of fire, 40 operations, 60% severe burns.  Jacqueline with her father. 2000 My mother emailed this to me, so I thought I'd share it with you. I hope your heart jumped, too. God bless and take care.
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
 -Perfect- You're the perfect girlfriend. Which means you're rare or that you cheated :P You're the kind of chick that can hang out with your boyfriend's friends and be silly. You don't care about presents or about going to fancy placed. Hell, just hang out. You're just happy being around your boyfriend. What Kind of Girlfriend Are You? brought to you by Quizilla Alas, I am not a girlfriend. Hehe. But thanks for the test, Neva! :) *** Meg's despedida pics from Every Wednesday are up! And so are my pics with my barkada in Town! And if you haven't seen the other pics, then just visit the trigger happy gallery. :) *** CADS has links to the alumni and our beloved Old Farts. Mich! If you're reading this, check them out!
Alia: Hey, Carlo! You're #6 in the Boys of Summer! Oh my God! Congrats! Hahaha! Carlo: Shut up! Seriously? How the hell did that happen? I dunno, man! All I know is that Carlo went from #27 to #6 in 4 days. Whopa! Right now he's sandwiched between Legolas and Harry Potter, and he beat Justin Timberlake. Naka naman! The voting will end on March 31 and the top 17 Boys of Summer will be featured in Seventeen Mag's May issue. How exciting! Hehe. :) Meanwhile, his cousin JP Carpio is the director of the much awaited Balay Daku. It'll be screened in the eKsperim[E]nto Film Festival today, so try to check it out. I would, too, but I've work. Sayang. I've a free ticket pa naman for today's opening. Oh well. Next time. :) *** >The things I’ve to put up with on EDSA Day. Yesterday was a working holiday and the favorite pastime in our house is watching TV. But of course, Mama will always have the last say. And of all the things to watch on a beautiful morning of working at home and relaxing in my pambahay clothes was Morning Girls with Korina Sanchez and Kris Aquino, the two people I dislike in media today. Their guests were real life couple Heart Evagnelista (who had a televised debut) and John Prats, and on-screen love team Kristine Hermosa and Jericho Rosales. Fine. Talk about their movies and work and stuff, but please, please, stop asking why Hermosa and Rosales broke up. These poor talents. They’re just playing with them! And why is Sanchez venturing into this side of media? There’s enough sensationalism in her news reporting. Why join forces with Aquino? Oh God. That’s it. They joined forces to annoy me. Hehe. Argh, they really tick me off. In fairness, I’m sure they’re both intelligent and nice, but dude, it doesn’t show. All they want is gossip, gossip, gossip, and dirt. I’m so disgusted. And they made Rosales cry. Poor guy. Reminds me of when Claudine Barretto cried on The Buzz after Rico Yan died. Man, leave these people alone! In other news, Lucky Manzano is the new Studio23 MYX VJ. I still have no idea how he looks, so maybe i'll try to catch a glimpse of him tomorrow in the office. *** >Fancy some bamboo furniture? My old friend Mahal Adams (Yes, that’s her name. Isn’t it wonderful? :) recently opened a furniture retail store and showroom called Imaje Handicrafts. Her store supposedly looks like her bamboo-filled house with some new products such as lamps and other accessories. Her store is located in the ground floor of the LRI Business Plaza at 210 N. Garcia (Reposo) St., Bel-Air II Village, Makati City. For inquiries, call 897-8645 or email at imaje_phil@yahoo.com. And hey! If there’re any Zobel batchmates in here, dudes! Pay her a visit daw! :) *** >Some scary shit in DC. A dear friend wrote: The terror alert here is "high". It's pretty scary because the government is telling everyone to buy duct tape to seal our windows in case of a biological attack. Can you believe that? On my way to DC yesterday, they closed a lot of bridges and roads because they found suspicious cars and packages lying around. The traffic was terrible. I hate bush talaga. He really doesn't know what he's doing. I just hope we don't go to war still. I want peace! I know it sucks that everyone in the world is affected by Bush’ world power attitude, but let’s pray for our friends who actually have to live with him. *Take care, Te!
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
There are new events On My Corkboard. :) *** The UP Film Center is giving Summer Production Workshops in Basic Video Production, Video Animation, Basic Photography and Digital Editing. Contact: Call 9250286, 9263640 or 9205301 local 4589 Email to upfc@yahoo.com. *** The Mindanao Creative Writers Group is accepting applications from writers and literature teachers to the 10th Iligan National Writers Workshop (INWW) to be held on May 7-10,2003 and the two-day Seminar on the Teaching of the Folk Literatures of the Philippines on May 5-6,2003 in Iligan City. Contact: Pat Cruz: project coordinator Telefax (063) 3516131 Email ovcre-mepc@sulat.msuiit.edu.ph *** Imagining Ourselves: An Anthology of Art and Ideas *SUBMISSIONS DEADLINE: All work must be received through email or by post by June 1, 2003. The International Museum of Women (IMOW) is looking for a diverse, international cross-section of authors and artists ages 18-35. Your work, whether pieces of visual art or of literature, should loosely answer the questions: - How do you see your world? - How do you see yourself in your world? - or what is the world you wish to create? They are seeking unusual perspectives, which portray the environment, ideas, and aspirations of young women from around the world and which help us draw connections between the diverse experiences of women. Send your striking photographs, bold poems, fascinating drawings, funny essays…be inventive! Sample themes to consider include (but are by no means limited to): the body, spirituality, land/earth, identity, family, community, power, and work. Contact: PROF. ELOISA MAY P. HERNANDEZ Philippine Coordinator O918-578-6137 Fax 927-0581 indigoart@edsamail.com.ph *** Recycle a Bike (RAB) Project. As one of Densities: Making Sense of Dense Cities' major exhibition components, Pananaw ng Sining Bayan, Inc. has teamed up with the bike advocacy group, the Firefly Brigade, and will be accepting donations of used/new bicycles and bicycle parts every Tuesday and Sunday from Feb 18 - March 18, 2-7 pm or by appointment. Contact Teny or Malou at 832-3702.
Monday, February 24, 2003
A few friends and I attended a baptism and Jomi, Chris and I were asked to be the baby’s godparents. Her name is Sophia and she is a beautiful, beautiful baby with little eyelashes, fuzzy hair, puckered lips and a little booger in her tiny, tiny nose. She had a cold and the heat gave her rashes. The House of God was filled with babies as it was a communal baptism and I felt like such a stage-friend impatiently waiting for the priest to come baptize her. Finally the priest came and poured water on Sophia's little head, wetting her feathery little hairs, then I kissed her head and I realized, I’m this little baby's Godmother. I’m a ninang and I have an inaanak. And God, right now it feels so nice to show off her picture, "Inaanak ko 'yan!" I went nuts buying gifts for her the night before. Bianca accompanied me to Town and there are so many cool things for babies right now that I went nuts. I remembered Mark Escaler's visual aid for Media Studies in Senior Year. It was a pair of little Nike shoes that he had bought for his newborn Alex. They were extremely cute and very impractical, but Mark was a new Daddy then so I thought, ah, forgivable. But now that I'm a godparent, I understand how he feels. And man, I just a godparent! Imagine how crazy I'd be when I become a mom! Babyland had lots of little things and I bought a Cookie Monster pacifier with clip; a fish-shaped teether; a finger puppets barn with a black and red chicken, a sheep and a cow; a baby blue dress with little bunnies (So that she won't have to wear pink all the time. Hehe. Actually I wanted a really cute black or red dress for her but those are uncommon.); and squeaky soccer ball for bath time (I'm gonna make her an athlete!). We gave everything to the cashier and while waiting for them to be gift-wrapped, I saw a cutie pair of outdoor sandals and I really, really wanted to buy them. But Bianca convinced me otherwise. This baby's got a lot of years ahead of her and she's going to need more important things when she gets into school. True, true. But then I looked at the sandals again and I thought, "Hmmm…next pay day na lang. Hehe." Oh no. My pay checks will be going to this baby. Looking at Sophia was a little surreal. Having a baby wasn’t like having a pet or a plant or those stupid tamagochis that come in different colors. This baby’s a person and she’s going to grow up and see and learn the things we know now. That’s a little scary. I remember a line from Six Feet Under. After discovering that her children had done several things, the mother, helpless and depressed, said something like, “You always try to protect your children from the worst in the world.” Although I know that my friend has the bulk of the responsibility, I can’t help feeling that I’ve to become a better person and for this kid. Oh God. In many ways I feel inadequate and immature. But still, thank you, because maybe Sophia was all I needed to take growing up seriously. *** Can I just rant! Babyland had the worst gift-wrapping ever! The gift wrapper was dull pink with the Babyland logo EVERYWHERE! What a hard sell, commercialized, heartless act! Idiots! Gift-wrapping is an art, like origami! You don’t just fold up a dull gift bag and tie a ribbon WITH THE SAME WRAPPER! Yuck! How horrible! I grabbed the icky gift bag and we went to National Bookstore because no Godchild of mine was going to have terrible gift-wrapping from her Comm. Major Godmother! Grrr. On the way there, I bought the cutest polar bear, even cuter than the Coca-Cola polar bears. Well, maybe not, but still very, VERY cute! So I bought it. And when we got home, I put yellow tissue inside the new gift bag, placed all the little toys inside with the bear wearing Sophia’s new dress. And voila! Gift-wrapping from the heart! Hah!
Friday, February 21, 2003
*From Lou Anne. :)
Please check out my GamePlan window on the left. I've added pictures! Yey! I'm so babaw! Anyway, I hope that the pictures entice you to watch the show. That is if you're bored at home on a Saturday night. :) Maybe you've been dying to try a new sport or exercise and oh my God! It's gonna be on GamePlan! I also have a lot of race announcements to post, but I'll do that when I reach the mad house. Oh! And mga friends! May cameo ako bukas! Pero mga 5 seconds lang. Haha! It's me parasailing! :)
Finally, my younger sister Julia forwarded something worth sharing. Haha! No offense, Jules, but please stop sending me chain letters. Please, please! Mwah! :) Anyway, guys! Do try it. It's really, really simple, short and worth the click. Just go to the site, type your name and voila. And dudes, you've gotta love the link's name: *** >Carlo's gonna kill me for doing this, but... A girl emailed this to us; Hey gals!! lets vote for Carlo Ledesma for FN's Boys of Summer!!! well he's currently in no.27 with 70 votes...so please gals vote for him!! for information, log on at www2.femalenetwork.com/boysofsummer/tally.php. Thank you!!! Hahaha! Wow, that's so cool! If you check out the tally, Carlo's ahead of Jericho Rosales. Naka naman! Pero laugh trip ha! Ang #1 si BJ Manalo. Holy smokes, Chitae! So anyway, girls, girls, girls. If you find Carlo worthy of the title, then by all means, vote for him. You'll be charged P2.50 for the vote, though. It's via text. Hmmm. As of now, Carlo has 73 votes. Let's see if this post will help change things. Hehe. *** Must sleep. :)
I always get these job alerts from jobs.net. I guess it won't hurt to post them here. I'm being nice. :) But if you want to get your own alerts, go ahead and submit your resume to the site. Actually, my friend Kathy was the one who sent my resume when I graduated, so I'm very thankful to her. It really helps to get these alerts and it's cool to share the info with other people having difficulty job hunting. Actually, I was inspired by the MTV job opening I posted last week. Sir Ed, an old boss of mine who now works for MTV Philippines texted me and told me that he saw my blog. Apparently, someone applied for the job and the resume said that the job announcement came from here. Wow! I was in a resume! Cool. Glad I could help. I asked Sir Ed if what I did was illegal and he said that he was pleasantly surprised that I was their unofficial billboard. Yeba. :) Anyway, here's the alert: Bookkeeper IVY ADVERTISING CIRCULAR INC. Pasig, PH Interested applicant can call tel. # 637-0185 or 637-0186. *** Now here's something nice. Some major spoon feeding in the ending, though, but I thought I'd include it anyway. :) >Carrots, Eggs or Coffee? A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word. In about twenty minutes, she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What's the point, mother?" Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity - boiling water - but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. "Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?" Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate to another level? How do you handle Adversity? ARE YOU A CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN? --- Don't tell GOD how big your storm is; Tell the storm how big your GOD is! May GOD BLESS YOU ABUNDANTLY! *From the North vs. South Bench mailing list.
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
Good news! Haloscan's up again! *** Plus, I finished my edit last night slash this morning. Yey! Thanks to Alexis for letting Ramil and I hitch back to the office after the movie. For his birthday (last Feb 11 :), I posted a lot in Indiefil. So go ahead check it out. It's a really good site. Tsk! Plus Meg gave me a new name sticker thingy for the forums. Yay! ***  I'd also like to plug Probe Productions' newest show called Art Is-Kool. It's the new kiddie show powered by former 5&Up producers Agay and Marj and hosted by our kind, bonjing Probe Team reporter Robert Alejandro. Kids in the grocery and the malls recognize him as the host already, so that's a really good and not to mention cute sign that this show is going to do so really well. If you're a Nickelodeon fan, Art Is-Kool is similar to Art Attack, but very Filipino, of course. The whole show is done in Tagalog with a little English when the art terms have no Filipino equivalent. The show actually reminds me of Juice's shows Space and The Kikay Machine because all the materials for the art projects can be found here in the Philippines, whether in a store or in your very own bodega. So if you've got kids in the house, please, please encourage them to watch it. You'll be doing them a favor. Really. Seriously. I swear to God. Linyaaaaa!!!  Agay, Robert and Marj meeting in our in-house Istar Buko in the garden. :) Watch Art Is-Kool every Saturday morning at 930 on GMA 7! Enjoy! :) *** Now here's a long one from Joepi. I think Hannah could've used this in that 80s paper she had some time ago. Anyway, I had fun writing comments after each item, so you can say that this probably sums up my childhood. Well, almost. Heehee! You know ur a (Filipino) child of the 80's when... 1. You have scars on your knees and elbows. *And a crooked chin from a bike accident. 2. You owned a bike. *Bingo! Yes, I had a BMX! Na may pang-angkas pa! :) 3. You had a barkada around your neighborhood (all of you had bikes). *Yup! And out of 5, I was the only girl. So I was Jaime and Princess Alora...We had a problem with Bioman, though. One guy had to be yellow 4. Hahaha! 4. You loved climbing on your house's roof (and your neighbor's roof as well). *And we used to jump down to the garden to prove that we were brave. Crazy kids. 5. You went inside an abandoned house in your neighborhood just to see what it looked like inside. *Nah. Never did that. We went inside a friend's house without permission, though, so we could swim in his pool. 6. You ate all the aratilis in your neighborhood. *There was only one aratilis tree behind the Church. And we claimed it! 7. You plucked all the gumamelas in the area for soap bubbles. *We could never make the bubbles! I don't know why. 8. Your parents forced you to take afternoon siestas with the threat that you will not be allowed to play outside. *Argh! I hated siestas. 9. You were never found in your house in the afternoon. You were often found playing in the street with your neighborhood friends. *Yup yup! And we'd play 'til night time coz hide and seek was the best at night. And we had those cheap red light sabers that came with the regular red flashlights during brown out season. 10.You loved exploring vacant lots for hidden knick-knacks. *Only after New Year's Eve so we could find more paputoks. Again, crazy kids. 11.You just can't resist jumping in a sandpile. *When there's construction, yes. And we used to position our bike ramp infront of the pile so that when we landed on the sand, we'd skid kooosssh! 12.You know all the street games (patintero, agawan base, langit-lupa, etc., etc.). *Marco polo, taguan, soccerbase, mataya-taya, mataya-taya sa linya, monkey-monkey, melting candle... 13.You owned a family computer. *Hell yeah! 14.Your hand-to-eye coordination is terrific due to family computer. *No naman. We played lots of sports, too. That's the real secret. Tsk! ;) 15.You'd rather go outdoors in the afternoon than play family computer. *Depends. We just got together and voted on whether to play outdoors or computer together. 16.You gleefully boast that games today are so easy because of the character's life bar (remember when we used to play Mario? We died the minute a goomba hit us). *Haha! But the controls are harder now. There're so many things to press! 17.You know this code by heart: UP-UP-DOWN-DOWN-LEFT-RIGHT-LEFT-RIGHT-B-A-B-A-START (select-start for 2 players). *My Contra was special! When you press select, you can pick what weapon you can have throughout the game. So we had spread all the way. Yeeha! 18.You owned a superhero costume (especially a superman costume). *Nope. But my Dad had Darth Vader and a Strom Trooper. 19.For the girls: You dressed up like Punky Brewster, Madonna and Debbie Gibson. For the boys: You dressed up like David Hasselhoff's Knight Rider, David Bowie or had Clark Kent's little bang. And now you think that the 80's had the suckiest dress sense. *Hey! I dressed like Knight Rider, too! 20.You had a denim jacket. *Still do, baby! 21.You had a sticker book especially that Age of Dinosaurs sticker book. *The Panini series! I had the Animal Kingdom, Rainbow Brite and the Care Bears. 22.You were addicted to Rainbow Brite, Care Bears, My Little Pony, Thundercats, Bioman, Voltes V, Mazinger Z, Daimos, Smurfs, etc., etc. *And G.I. Joe, The Transformers, Karate Kat, Street Frogs, Camp Minimon, Tiger Sharks, Voltron... (Somebody stop meh!) 23.You played PC games like Tapper, Moonbugs, Alley Cat and Prince of Persia. *What were those? I liked Where in the World is Carmen San Diego, Battle Chess, Space Invaders, Pacman, and Karate. 24.MS Word did not exist in your vocabulary but Wordstar did! *How can I forget? :p 25.You love 80's music even if you don't want to admit it. *I admit it with pride! And I can dance to the 80s, too. Hehe. 26.You've climbed up mango trees to catch salagubang, tie a sting around its neck and let it fly around in frenzy. *Nah, the boys did that. And they tied a five-star to a frog's butt once. Poor Freggie. 27.You've spent hours in the afternoon catching tutubi... yellow-green was the easiest to catch, blue being finicky, and red being a rare breed. *Those red ones were all over the school once, like a plague. 28.You used to take Flinstones vitamins (which you didn't mind 'cause it was yummy) and Scott's liver oil. *Nope! I'm an Enervon C kid! 29.You know the cartoon show, Beverly Hills Teens. *Yuck. 30.You know Kuya Bodgie from Batibot. *And Open Sesame...Letrang "W": Wuh, wuh, tubig! 31.You watch Uncle Bob's Lucky Seven Club. *ANd we joined their Panini sticker collection contest. :) 32.You used AQUA NET to fashion ur 4-inch-high bangs. *And some Dep Gel. 33.Your blouses had pads. *Ew! I hated pads. 34.You owned wide studded colorful belts. *No, we had those colorful knitted or braided ones, like the ones girls wear now. Uy, the 80s are coming back. God forbid! 35.You watched some of your favorite shows on betamax or even UHF 17 (the channel from Clarke Air Base). *Yeah, we still have our betamax player. I fixed it once, but the film still folds a bit. Bad, bad. 36.You collected and "swapped" perfumed stationeries with your classmates and friends, but followed the unwritten rule that you never write on them. *Haha! Well, I wrote on them when I got a boyfriend in high school. :) 37.The only place you go to for summer vacation is BAGUIO! *No nga eh! I only went there when I was 4 (which I don't remember) and 12 (with Celine, Kylene and Erin I think). Then 2 more times when I started working for GamePlan. 38.On that note, Camp John Hay served the BEST ice cream. *Never tried it. Shucks. 39.Most of us were brought to the EDSA revolution. Yup yup! My Dad was the photographer of Cory's group, and I have a picture with her. Haha! My first celebrity pic. :) 40.You remember what Ricky Martin used to look like back then. *And I know the dance to Explosion. 41.You think that Julie Vega is a better actress that Judy Ann. *Uh-oh. Who's Julie Vega? 42.You get confused playing Play Station because of all the buttons on the keypad (Nintendo only had the direction pad, A & B buttons and the start & select keys ). *Yeah, but my Nintendo had Turbo A and B. Mwahaha! 43.You know all the Bagets and Ninja Kids. *I did. I forget now. I should refresh my memory with jologs.com. 44.You got to ride the train ride at greenhills shopping center. *Ha? What train?. 45.Magic Johnson and Larry Bird were the players at the time. *And their shorts were really, REALLY short. 46.You know more 80's music than the song "Buttercup". *Definitely! But I don't know all the titles. 47.You were allowed to bathe in the rain. *I still do! 48.You were taught to comb your hair one-sided. *And you had to pick whether to put your ponytail on the right of the left. Nyahahaha!!! 49.You collected matangpusa and mongo beans so you can have ammunition for sumpit. *And to make Japanese jackstones. Or was it Chinese? 50.You knew who Madam Bola and Sitsiritsit and Alibangbang were. *Baaa-bebi-bohbooo... 51.Every Christmas you anticipate going to BIG BANG sa Alabang -- with the giant slide. *And now that empty space has Provost! Horror! 52.You know the Ewoks. *Yeah, and they had 2 more movies after Return of the Jedi, too. 53.You had Mighty Kid shoes and Greg shoes. *Nah, I had Hush Puppies, Spartan and Air Walk. 54.You know what Time Space Warp means (and you know who Fuma Lae-Ar is). *(Put your hands in the air!) Booshigi-shigi Wooshigi-shigi... 55.You and your barkada had a specific Bioman name. *I was Pink 5! 56.You sucked all the nectar from the santan plant hence your mother got really pissed at you for destroying the santan plant. *Well there were so many santan plants anyway, so we never really ran out of them. :) 57.You played with marbles and text (yung cards ha!!!) and you counted cards like this: I-SA, DALA-WA, TAT-LO, A-PAT... walo na 'yon! *No, we counted properly. Naks! And we played mahjong, and the winner got 2 pesos from each player. Hehe. 58.For girls: You wore denim miniskirts with rubber shoes. For guys: You had those bitin na pantalon which you wore with high-top rubber shoes!!! *I think I only did that once coz I was going to see my crush. Then I never wore that skirt again. I hate miniskirts. 59.You loved Cheezels and Chicakdees because of the great prizes it had! (Remember sticky hands, bear popups, and the stick on tattoos which were "banned" due to drugs daw?) *Haha! They had LSD daw! Oh, and I miss Clover Bits. :) 60.Puffy cone still existed!!! *But I always liked sugar cones. :) 61.Sosy ka if you bought a Magnolia drumstick. *No, you were sosy if you bought the cup with the wooden spoon so you could eat properly. 62.Twin Popsies were meant to be shared with a friend. *Really? The orange is mine!!! 63.Ice Drop was the cheapest treat. *My favorite was buko. 64.You have those Disney bow biters for your rubber shoes. *No, we had Looney Toons. 65.You know who Alf is. *And Small Wonder! 66.You're familiar with the show Perfect Strangers. *Aw, and I miss it dearly. I want a Demitri doll. 67.Idol mo si McGyver. *Hey, they still show it on Star TV! Watch it! 68.Thats Entertainment ang "the bomb" nung mga panahon na yun. *That's why we have the Wednesday Group now. Haha! Joke. 69.Sikat ka kapag alam mo ang Word Star at Lotus 1, 2, 3. *No! It wasn't cool! :p 70.Six digits lang ang telephone number niyo dati. *'De, seven na kami no'n. And we had those radios/walkie-talkies in the car. :) 71.Tatlong 0.25 cents lang eh makakatawag ka na sa pay-phone. *Why, how much is it now? 72.Cute pa si Aiza non sa Eat Bulaga. *Yeah, and I watched Wake Up Little Suzi with the helpers. :) 73.Si Amado Pineda pa ang nagbabalita ng panahon. *Oh no, I don't remember him. I didn't liek watching the news. 74.You drank Chocolate milk from the Magnolia glass bottle which you kept for holding water in your ref. *We still have those!!! Look!!! 75.Brown Cow tasted better than Hersheys! *Yeah, what happened to that? 76.Shake, Rattle and Roll 1 was the most horrifying movie for you then. *And Manilyn Reynes was the number one horror film actress. I think I have her autograph somewhere. 77.The most comfortable shoes for you is still Sperry Topsiders. *I liked Spartan and Keds. 78.Dress shoes mo eh loafers pa rin. *Sometimes. Heehee. 79.The best movies of all time are Pretty in Pink, Breakfast Club, 16 Candles and Some Kind of Wonderful. *And Top Gun! 80.You show off your pencil case which have hidden compartments that pop-out at the press of a button... *Mine even had piano keys that played music! Parang midi pa yung tunog. Hehe. 81.You have Bensia pencils which are refillable... *Still do! I got some for Christmas. :) 82.Fiesta Carnival was the place to be (kumbaga Enchanted Kingdom sya ng 90's) *Dehin! Big Bang was still the best! 'Di nga lang year-round, pero da best! 83.Takot kang mag-year 2000 kasi baka magunaw ang mundo. *No naman. But I heard my high school history teacher kinda freaked out about that in her class. 84.Masarap ang Goya and Serg's. *Flat tops! 85.Nakakasakay ka pa sa kotseng walang aircon. *My car's aircon used to conk out even in college. I miss Fred. :( 86.You know the lyrics ng "Tinapang Bangus" at "Alagang-alaga namin si Puti" ng Batibot. *Camille! It's Syd! 87.) You know these commercials: a. YCBIKINIBRIEF - Ycbikinibrief / ycbikinibrief / ycbikinibrief for the man who packs a wallop / YC had fashion / YC has style... b. RA Homevision - those guys from cash and carry Makati couldn't have done it better. Sports. Adventure. Cartoons. Award Winners and more. Featuring the voice talent of Frankie Evangelista. I will never forget the creepy hand at the start of the ad. Parang ET na nasa spaceship! c. Arthur's Legaspi Towers - nuff said. d. La Germania Mama Mia commercials - ditto. *Caronia! And Seiko, Seiko wallet, ang wallet na maswerte! 88.Bumibili ka ng caramel candy, Texas or Bazooka bubblegum, tira-tira at Tootsie Roll sa tindahan. *And we collected empty Coke bottles in the canteen so that we could claim the deposit money. :p 89.Naabutan mo pa na korteng bulaklak ang singko. *And the plastic Lapu-Lapu centavo. 90.You're familiar with this song: Si nena ay bata pa, kaya ang sabi niya ay um-ah-um-ah-ah. Hanggang patanda siya nang patanda at pabastos ng pabastos hehehe! *Hahaha! 91.Takot ka sa bumbay. Takot ka ring magkasugat kasi may lalabas raw na pari... *When I was or 4, my family and I went to Hong Kong and while riding the shuttle in the airport, I pulled Papa's hand and said, "Papa. Why's he so black?" Papa, squeezing my hand, said, "Sshhh. He might hear you." "But he's so black!" Hey, I was just being a curious kid. Sorry. :) 92.You loved watching WWF (World Wresting Federation) every Wednesday...Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker. *Personally, my favorites were Ultimate Warrior, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake (Or some name like that! He used to put his opponents to sleep with a sleeper hold and then chop off their hair.), and Hitman! :) The most unforgettable moments of course were when someone pulled Ravishing Rick Rude's pants down, and Macho Man's marriage to Elizabeth.
 I finally caught a movie at Pelikula at Lipunan...the last one that is. Cam, Ramil and I met up in Mega Mall to watch Punk-Drunk Love and even if I am super dooper pobre right now, I think the movie was worth my hundred bucks. The Wednesday people were there, too, and I was so glad to see them and finally watch a movie with them after so long.Punch-Drunk Love was a cute and simple love story with twisted factors all around it (Including a 1-800 call gone bad.). These factors didn't necessarily play a part in the love story. They just made things more complicated and colorful. The cinematography was very intimate and real with no glory shots at all. Just a play with the exposure. It was a little distracting when the shots were too dark, though. The soundtrack was also very intresting, with an endless love song that doesn't get to you, and this very unnerving yet adrenalin-pumping composition that will just drive you mad whenever Barry Egan, played wonderfully by Adam Sandler, goes mad, too. Barry has 7 overbearing sisters who nag and whine and call and snoop. At one point, the music gets to you and the sisters get to you and you find yorself cheering for Barry, "Go, Barry! Speak your mind!" Of course, this means that Sandler gave his usual going-psycho act, but it wasn't irritating. Really, it wasn't. In this movie, you don't feel that it's an act. You feel that it's real anger, real rage, and real crying from a loser. At first you don't know whether to laugh or be bothered. Sandler's performance was definitely unexpectedly good. He really portrayed a real person, born with genuine goodness but also capable of incredible rage and strength. Lena Leonard, played by Emily Watson, was a wonderful sheath who had a subtle and honest development from wanting to meet the man, get the man and hopefully be good for the man. When she enters his life, everything seems to be falling into place. Now if only those colorful factors I mentioned earlier weren't around, right? Well, those factors were dealt with somehow. "That's that." :) The movie's also about Barry and Lena just being two really nice people. The few moments when they overcome their shyness or fail to keep their anger within are memorable; and when they leave their fears and inhibitions behind, the scenes become really pretty, you can't help but have this faint smile with a matching sigh. The scene where the silhouette of the two are kissing was done so cleanly, it reminded me of the OBB of Catch Me If You Can, except this one was romantic. And everything just looked sooo realistic. I can't stress it enough. Majority of the shots were at eye level with no cranes or anything. I think that's the best part about the movie. Everything was at eye level, and it worked. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, he created...no, he didn't create. He showed us something weirdly real. I've heard about the raining frogs in Magnolia, which I haven't seen by the way (Well, Chris and Mo showed me the intro, but that's it.), and I think that it's good for him to venture from one extreme to the other. Keeps one up and about to "diversify".  Honestly, this shot took my breath away. PS. I want an accordian. And someone who'll collect flier miles to go on out of town shoots with me. Wait. That's wrong. I need someone to PAY for my out of town shoots. Yeah. :)
Tuesday, February 18, 2003
For those who know the booshigishigi song, did you know that the man who played Alexis aka. Shaider died? Sad. He died in 2001. And damn it, the webiste that was forwarded to me is in French. *** I watched I-Witness on GMA 7 last night and it was a good story on garbage, the pros and cons of sanitary landfills, recycling and segregation. The feature was entitled Basura and it was a strong story. Unfortunately, it had a lousy edit, poor script and very little sound. Well, I only caught the last segment, but it was really bad. I was so interested ni what Bayani Fernando and Lumen Ioge had to say, but the footage was so boring to watch. Heck, I'm not even sure if Lumen's surname is Ioge because the chargens were so bad, I couldn't read them. They matched the black and white and gritty look of the episode, but the fonts were just so hard to read. And I have 20-25 vision mind you. I cannot stress enough how important natsots (natural sounds) are. There were too many VOs with no music, the natsots could've added to the feel of the story. If you want the audience to sympathize with people living in dumpsites, then let them hear the garbage being squashed in the garbage truck, the flies fying onto food and wounds, and feet swooshing and mushing through icky garbage swamps. Without natsots, it's just a video, bland and lifeless. Sayang. I was very unimpressed by Jay Taruc, the reporter and writer of the episode. And the sentimental music in the end of the last segment was so forced. It was a song sung by a child about living in a dumpsite. Talk about forcing you to sympathize. What a waste. Literally. *** Here's something nice from a triathlete. Huling hirit pagkatapos ng Araw ng mga Puso. :) Love is in the air... tell her you love her by..... Taking her out for a late night run... and after a few miles, go home together and give her a bath... if possible, take one together... And before you go to bed, tuck her comfortably by your side and sleep and dream of marathons, duathlons and triathlons, both of you finishing side-by-side... Lastly, reassure her that, although new and sexy ones arrive (by ship or plane on freight, from Bangkok, Korea, China or Japan), that you won't replace her. The miles you've spent together on (and off road) have molded you both and made your relationship a perfect..... fit. I love my running shoes.
*** >Empty spaces. I went to the Ateneo some Saturdays ago to attend the first practice of CADS Street Alumni. While waiting for the dancers I walked around Gonzaga with memories of college racing through my head. The lady who sells buko juice in the Caf remembered me. She apologized for no longer providing those big sago straws for my buko juice, and for not having any cheese sticks for me to munch on. Haha! Dang, I used to buy cheese sticks and buko juice almost everyday. And when I was sad or stressed, a good friend of mine used to buy buko juice for me, and he always remembered to get that big sago straw, too. I also said hello to the janitor who cleans the pubroom (I think his name’s Jun.) and I had an interesting conversation with Ma’m Karen of the ORP. She had this really, really nice poster of Gandalf behind her desk with Elvish written all over the background. Such a pretty poster. And oh my God! Trinka! I saw Trinka and we gave each other our usual bear hugs and complained about having to be in school on a Saturday (She was there for some production work.). Haha. Felt just like old times. Walking through empty hallways is more sentimental than seeing them on a school day when the place is filled with very young and unfamiliar faces (At times like those, you don't feel senti. You feel old!). I took a few pictures of Gonzaga spots that remain very close to my heart, and seeing zero benches on EDSA Walk was heartbreaking. EDSA used to be lined with benches filled with happy people making kwento, playing cards, studying or just plain lounging around, smoking and waiting for their next class. EDSA used to look like a very friendly place. Now it looks so bland, it’s sad. When the school took the benches out, I think they took out a huge chunk of the college’s happy culture. But there are rumors that the benches might be installed again after PAASCU. Sus. It’s just a front. Still, I hope the rumors are true so that the GSM Bench can start having reunions in school. That’d be really cool!  My gilagid picture with Trinka. Hehe.  EDSA Walk, benchless and sad.  The Gonzaga entrance where we used to wait for carpool.  The pretty chapel that I used to visit everyday.  The Pubroom hallway where we used to meet up and fool around in between classes.  Our view from the Pubroom windows. People-watching was fun from this height.  The staircase behind the chapel where I used to cry. So thank you to friends who used to bring tissue and yosi down there for me. :)
Monday, February 17, 2003
I had 3 yellow roses delivered to Mama in her office and my note said: Happy Valentine’s Day! You know I love you even when I’m masungit. Just stop asking about my love life please. I’ll tell you when I get one. :) –Alia Hehe. Like a true GSM-er, I wore black for V-Day and to my surprise, majority of the Makati people were in black, too. Wow, I actually blended in with the season on my second Valentine’s as a singleton. Black rules! But black is also sad. Haha! The GamePlan girls agreed to meet up (date daw) in Galleria to watch Shanghai Knights and Camille and I were the first ones at the scene. But she had to leave early, and Joy and Gretch couldn’t make it. So there I was waiting for Ka and Gie in Coffee Experience, alone, in BLACK! How sad. Shanghai Knights was a really cute movie. The play with the music (I’m singing in the rain...), Chan’s amazing and hilarious fight choreography that makes use of anything and everything in sight, villains Donnie Yen (who played Sky in Hero) and Aidan Gillen’s fantastic fight scenes, and Fann Wong and Olsen Wilson funny combo (“She’s going to win my battles for me.”) made it the perfect date movie. Not that mushy (Two Weeks notice), not that scary (They), it had enough action for guys and cute comedy for the girls. Oh, and I think Olsen Wilson’s cute, but his nose bothers me. It’s so, um, jagged. But at least he's not an irritating sidekick like Chris Rock. Right after the movie, I rushed over to Nikki’s office where I met Cricket and VJ, former schoolmates in college. Their office had a cute Valentine’s Day ala Kris Kringle gimmick. They picked names from a box a few days before and on V-Day, they paired up into baduy love teams and exchanged gifts. So Nikki was Regine Velasquez and her ka-love team was officemate Ariel Rivera. Cricket was Sheryl Cruz and she exchanged gifts with VJ aka Rustom Padilla. Heehee. Going home wasn’t so bad. Traffic on the highway was horrible, but only until the new SM Bicutan Mall (It’s like, you know, the party place! Nye.). Nikki and I were craving for some delicious pizza, so we went straight to Town to find the world there (I was joking in the car, “Ano ba? Bring your dates to Makati or something! Darn couples. Hehe.”) and decided to eat in TJ’s. But they only had a special V-Day menu, so none of our favorite pastas and pizzas were available. Dang, I just wanted to eat The Vatican! It was discrimination I tell you! P600+ for a meal? Forget it. We went up to Food Island and shared a large heart-shaped Shakey’s garlic and cheese pizza. Yum-yum. Yeah, beat that, TJ’s! Camille joined us after dinner and we enjoyed some yummy coffee in Seattle’s best. I’m so glad they finally opened up in Alabang because their coffee is so much better than that of Starbuck’s and San Francisco Coffee. A few hours later, the Town started getting a little noisy. So we drove to Guava Park and we talked about many different things and I smoked so much that I ended up smoking the strawberry flavored DJ Mix cigs I originally bought for Mich (Sorry, Mich. I’ll buy you another pack. :) We also played around with my sister’s camera, modeled our “V-Day Black Collection” outfits and smiled liked wide-mouthed frogs (Halloh!!!). Camille shared some Elvish with us and we played with our imaginations by giving life to the clouds in the night sky. It was a lovely night. The Big Dipper was clearly visible and Orion had moved behind us. It was 1am and I think I just had one the most wonderful V Days ever. See! Just because you’re single, it doesn’t mean you should have a sour V-Day. Absolutely lah! ;)  A lonely man on the C5 ramp.  The usual V-Day traffic on South Super Highway. How lovely.
 My "V-Day Black Collection" pose.  The only group pic I'm allowed to post. Hehe.  Please, please watch this movie. ;)
Saturday, February 15, 2003
One of the segments on GamePlan tonight is the trek of Carlo and Rovilson up Mt. Pinatubo. It was produced by Mel and I was assigned to edit it and I must admit that I had a little difficulty because Pinatubo's like a desert, so most of the shots looked the same. But the footage was beautiful and it made some of us incredibly hungry for some adventure. The trek takes about 2 to 4 hours depending on your pace, but the crater lake is worth seeing for real.  Rovilson and Carlo walking through the Crow Valley Gunnery Range.  "Ashboarding" (more like running) down the side of an ash canyon.  4 hours later and they're in the crater.  A Mel shot of the turquoise crater lake from the air. Watch the episode tonight so that you could be as jealous as I am. And if you want to climb the sleeping volcano, too, then visit Dream Treks Pampanga for more details. The ash canyons are already eroding and in maybe ten years, everything will be back to the way they were before the eruption of June 1991. So I suggest you guys plan your trips real soon. A bunch of us might be going this summer. :)
A nice test from Meg. :)  You are the fox. Saint Exupery's 'The Little Prince' Quiz. brought to you by Quizilla Sigh.
Thursday, February 13, 2003
Hey, hey, hey! It's going to be Valentine's Day! The day when romantics have an excuse to go overboard! Or in some cases, the day when romantics have an excuse to demand their rigid partners to loosen up and spend moolah on them. Hehe. And hey, even the singletons should be happy! Go out with friends, have a slumber party, have a bachelor party, watch a movie, go out for coffee and wear black (ala GSM :). But for heaven's sake, don't spend Valentine's alone! That would be too sad. I'd also like to say that I'm really happy that I'm in good terms with my old boyfriends. Uy, friends! Salamat! :) But it's sad to see that there are sooo many people who feel really bitter about their old flames, EXES as they are called, and can't seem to get over them. So to the bitter, the angry, and the depressed-but-must-get-back-up-and-move-on-somehow, here's a meanie Valentine's idea for you. Enjoy! ***Greeting cards messages you can send your EXes this Valentines Day*** FRONT: As the days go by, I think of how lucky I am INSIDE: That you're not here to ruin it for me. FRONT: I've always wanted to have someone to hold, someone to love. INSIDE: After having met you, I've changed my mind. FRONT: I must admit, you brought Religion in my life. INSIDE: I never believed in Hell 'till I met you. FRONT: Looking back over the years that we've been together, I can't help but wonder: INSIDE: What the hell was I thinking? FRONT: I always wanted to be rich, powerful, and well respected. INSIDE: And while I'm dreaming, I wish you weren't so damn ugly. FRONT: When we were together, you always said you'd die for me. INSIDE: Now that we've broken up, I think it's time you kept your promise. FRONT: I'm so miserable without you, INSIDE: It's almost like you're here. FRONT: If you ever need a friend... INSIDE: Buy a dog.
Monday, February 10, 2003
If you or any of your friends are looking for a job, there's currently an opening right now for a producer here at MTV. We're hiring right away, so if you think you've got what it takes, send in your resume asap to: Ms. Melanie Yazon Supervising Producer MTV Asia, LDC Unit 606 Richomonde Plaza 21 Lourdes St., San Miguel Avenue Ortigas, Pasig City You definitely have to like music for a good chance at getting the job, so if you've got that quality and are interested, by all means apply! No production background necessary (look at me). Also, we're launching a VJ Hunt this March. This time its nationwide, so if any of you are interested, submit your audition tape to our office or to our booth, wherever and whenever that will be next month. I'll give more details once its official. We're only getting two finalists from Metro Manila, so do well!!! I just had a meeting today regarding what exactly what we're gonna do, and all I can say is that it's gonna be lots of fun!!! That's it for now... e-mail me at miguel.santos@mtv-asia.com if you have any questions. Miguel *Uy! Sinong gustong maging VJ d'yan? Aminin n'yo na! This is your chance! :)
 The beautiful Maggie Cheung. They say she's the equivalent of Vilma Santos in China. Bianca went out with her friends for dinner while Carla and I dragged Mama and Tito Cooter to watch Hero with us in Town Center. Convincing Tito Cooter to watch with us was a little funny because he doens't like subtitles. So I told him that it was mostly silent and that there were more fights than talkies. Hehe! Watching it in Glorietta One was such crap compared to Town, and I must say that I finally absorbed the whole movie last night. I absorbed so much, I was tearing throughout the entire movie. Seriously! My mood was so different and I didn't have to deal with bad smell, noisy people laughing at the fight choreography (How dare you!!! Or is it "how dare you?" Ah!) and stupid girlfriends who choose not to answer their phone when it's already RINGING. (Siguro kung Les Ketchup yung ringtone niya, binatukan ko na. De, joke. Sobra naman yun. :) Finally the movie, which was predominantly silent, became such a spiritual experience for me. The slowmos didn't bother me anymore, and neither did the pace. Carla whispered to me that Donnie Yen, the actor who played Sky, choreographed some of the fight scenes, including his with Jet Li, so I found the choreographies all the more interesting. Even their hair and their clothes were choreographed in a way. The sound system of the cinema was way better, so every swing and swoosh of the swords was music to my ears; and the music itself was still so moving and I was wrong to say that it sounded like Flight od Dragons. The melody just reminded me of it. Diba? Try singing it! Really! Watching it again last night was a really good move. When we were walking out, a lot of the people were praising it and thanking the heavens for such a good Asian movie. Mama thought that it was beautiful. She does a little Chinese painting and has a tiny bit of Chinese in her blood, so Chinese movies as beautiful as this are always a treat for her. Tito Cooter liked the fight scenes, especially since they were the only ones he saw. Haha! He was asleep during the talkies. He was also really hungry. So the four of us went to the new Pancake House in BF and I had my favorite bacon waffles. Pancake House is right beside the new Starbucks and both of them are right across Conti's, a really tasty restaurant with ultra delicious cakes and pastries, and Tropical Hut Grocery with the yummy Tropical Hut Hamburger place. We talked about how good this setting was. After doing your groceries, you and your family can treat yoruselves to any of the 3 places. I hope that someone opens a Seattle's Best soon. Yey! Of course, we couldn't stop talking about the movie. I said, "I hope Bush watches this movie." Then Carla joked, "Then he'll rule the world, all under heaven." Uh, ok. Bad idea.  PS. My new crush Tony Leung. Hehe. *** >Ringu visited Alabang.  Sadako, our new GamePlan wallpaper. Joy wanted all the computers to have it. Haha! Meanie. Oh! And I finally saw the Japanese Ringu in Festival Mall yesterday. I wasn't that scared because I had already seen the American version The Ring last October, but I liked this one more. It looked more natural and it made me do a lot of thinking. The American version had a lot of spoon-feeding. Carla, who had already seen it, accompanied me to the movie. Bianca doesn't like horror movies, so she was out. She's a real couch potato, so watching the movie may destroy her TV habit. :p Our friend Gars watched with us, though, because he hadn't seen it as well and he was nice enough to pick us up and bring us home. He and I bought some burgers and he were joking that we'd scream and throw our burgers in the air when we got scared. To add to the fun, we sat Carla in between us. Haha! The build-up of the horror in the American was better, but the naturalness (Is there such a word?) of the Japanese was still scarier. The horrified look on the dead victims' faces didn't have all that gorry makeup, so the horror in their dead eyes was more frightnening. And the child Yoichi was more childlike compared to the American child who was just plain weird-looking, too weird for you to have compassion for him. As a whole, I liked this version and I'd love to see the other Ring movies. I can't wait for Halloween. I bet there'll be a lot of Sadakos walking around Alabang this year. *** >The Vargas trip to Mordor. I had to pick up my camera in the office last Saturday and Carla came along so that we could go to the wake of her officemate's dad in *dadadadaaaan*...Araneta Ave. I had no idea where that was, but we told her friend we'd call if we got lost. The first thing to find was Quezon City Circle. I've driven in the area a few times, but seriously, anything past UP is hell for me. UP itself is a dificult place for me to get around in. For my sister, anything past Makati was Mordor. So when we got to Commonwealth, my first mistake turning right. We're driving, we're driving, I was just expecting to hit the circle but it was nowhere to be found. We stopped at a gas station and asked where the circle was and the guy said, "Mag U-turn kayo sa Ever tapos diretso lang! Sa kabila yun!" Nyah! We were going to Baguio! We finally found the circle and we saw this weird structure shaped like a tower with four pointy things at the top. I told my sister, "Dude. Mukha siyang Isengaard." So she calls her friend Andaya whining, "Andaya! I can see Isengaard! We're going to Mordor!" Driving on Quezon Ave. was still weird for me because everything looked so alien. "You think it was a mistake to leave the Shire?" "I grow weary Samwise!" I saw a man on the road so I told carla to ask him where Araneta Ave. was. Instead she asked, "Boss! Sa'n yung Quezon Ave.?" "Eto na yon," he said. Haha! So we're driving, we're driving and finally, a sign that said "This way to Araneta." Woohoo! The wake was at Nacional Memorial along Araneta Ave. Our friend's dad had a kidney transplant but his body rejected the kidney. This started a chain reaction since nothing was being filtered out and the arteries were clogging up. The doctors were trying to unclog an artery in the leg (The sciatic vein maybe?), but then there was also an artery clogging up near the heart and at that moment, the doctors didn't think that it was operable yet. More tests had to be made, but time ran out and the father died of heart failure. Our horrible trip to Mordor was nothing compared to the father's death after being hospitalized for about a year and we were thankful that we decided to drive all the way there to pay our respects. Friends would go through hell for friends, right? So I was happy to have driven for Carla. Sigh. One thing's for sure, though. None of us are ever, EVER going to live in that side of Quezon City. I'd die of claustrophobia. When we got back on Edsa to pick up Bianca in Makati, I thanked God, "Wow! Space! Space!" Carla brought me to Hobbes in Greenbelt and I was drooling at all the board games and puzzles and this dolphin thingy (I forget what it's called.). She also brought me to an art store, so I was very relaxed after driving aimlessly for hours. We met up with Bianca and she drove home for us because I was just so darn tired already. Dang, the things we sisters do for each other.
Saturday, February 08, 2003
 Nameless' first battle with Sky. *Warning: Spoilers.  Moon in the incredible fight scene with Flying Snow in the forest.  Young lovers Broken Sword and Flying Snow.  Moon and Nameless' battle in the library.  Shishio striking Kenshin through Yumi. *Hmmm. The RK still looks so out of place with those of Hero. But that's ok. I also love the fact that so many of the action shots in Hero were so anime-like. It goes to show that almost-impossible-stunts aren't limited to anime alone. They never were actually, but this movie was just so incredibly flawless. *** I'm definitely going to watch this movie again. Maybe in Town Center. Where the audience is QUIET!!! *** I'm going to kill I-Next someday. I get disconnected every minute. Seriously, EVERY MINUTE! FOR 2 HOURS NOW! Who wants to join my mission? Bleeping server.
Saturday, February 01, 2003
We had a big meeting yesterday filled with numbers and the ways of the business. I had no idea that the business was that screwed up. Not that it’s bad. Just complicated. And when I studied the numbers, I wish that I had taken accounting or some management class back in college. Dang, I wish that I was good in math. Period. One thing’s for sure, though. The chain reaction of the business has rendered me speechless. I will never complain about work again. I never fully understood how much TV shows depended on advertising until now. It seems that we all depend on each other so much it’s amazing how the public never feels the difficulty that we all experience. And in many ways, we all make the business beautiful, most importantly meaningful. God. I never thought that I’d ever write anything as cheesy as that about media. *** >Catch Me If You Can, 8 Mile, and Beauty and the Beast. Last nigh, I rode the shuttle home, ran to the house, got the car and rushed to Town to catch whatever movie I could at past 10; and I caught Catch Me If You Can. It’s a really good movie. The plot is pretty simple but highly entertaining to watch. I just wish that it showed more of Frankie’s adventures, even just a fun montage of sorts. My only beef is that Leonardo di Caprio wasn’t that cool to watch as Frankie Abegnale. The character was cool, yes, and di Caprio's acting was vaery good, but he was hardly Bond-like. I think on purpose. The suave moves, the witty lines, the handsome clothes, he had it all. He just didn’t have, well, my affections? He was never my type, so I guess that explains it. And he was playing a 17-year-old. So there you go. All in all, it was a very good movie, albeit some continuity errors that caught my eye. Cinematography was pretty, costumes and set design were wonderful, and the animation of the OBB was visually entertaining. Only creative geeks could’ve come up with an opening as good as that. And Tom Hanks. What else can I say about Tom Hanks? He was incredible! And they all looked like they had fun doing this movie. *** 8 Mile was also very entertaining. I watched it in G4 this afternoon with Randy and Kat and although Eminem’s acting was nothing fantastic, his good performance cannot be denied. The story was also simple. A bum wanting to make it big in his chosen field and at the same time wanting to break even financially to help support his dreams, his crazy mom and his adorable little sister. As Rabbit the older brother, the scenes with his sister Lily were very heartwarming. I actually found Eminem sweet! Wow, that was weird. Even weirder was Kat thinking that she was actually crushing on him. What I loved about the film was that even with its simple story, it gave an interesting look-see at the rapping culture in Detroit. Listening to the creative lyrics and watching the battles was just as interesting as watching Abegnale’s art of forging checks. I didn’t like Brittany Murphy very much, though. She looked so messy. Dang, I sound so conservative. And what the hell was up with Glorietta? They cut the sex scene. (So much for sounding conservative.) Alright, alright, wait! I don’t necessarily NEED to see everything, but the way that it was cut was so distracting and obvious. Rabbit and... shucks. What was the girl’s name again? Ugh. Anyway, they’re making out, they’re making out, and all of a sudden, he pulls his pants up. Huh? When did he even pull them down? Ah, whatever. I was just bothered that they cut something out. I mean they could’ve just raised the rating pf the movie if the scene was that bad for kids. Hmmm, like the profanity of the raps wasn’t enough, right? Speaking of the movie’s rating, Chris and I saw some weird note on the 8 Mile poster in Mega Mall yesterday: Please be CAUTIONED to bring children age 13 years and below. Hahaha! Crazy. All that aside, the movie was really cool, and the soundtrack was awesome. I want it. Since the movie was set in the 90s, there were many familiar tunes. I don’t know the titles, of course. *** I got home in time for a delicious corned beef dinner and my sisters and I were able to watch the Disney Channel premiere of Beauty and the Beast. Yippee! It’s such a beautiful movie. I must admit, though, that I didn’t really like it the first time I saw it in Mega Mall. (By the way, I watched it with the gymnasts the first time I ever set foot in Mega Mall when I was 12. The second time I ever went there was for my 19th birthday. Batang South! :) Plus the beast was more attractive than the human version. When he turned around to show his princely face, my friends and I jumped, “NGYEEEH!!!” Now that I’m older and more softee and romantic as ever, I cried and cried, even when she just offered to take her father’s place as a prisoner. And the way she said “I love you” was so huhuhu. Bravo, bravo! Huhuhu. Funny. While watching Beauty and the Beast, Max started barking because he heard the wolves in the movie. Aw, our protector. Go, Destroyer, go! :)
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