Weekend Stuff

At this rate, I may go The Way of the Rad and do weekend updates. Anyhoo...

FRIDAY: Put up w/ my first scheduled 12-hour power interruption. Escaped it for a while by picking up desk fans at Dianne's Western Appliances warehouse, then going to the gym, but had to get home early, with 4 hours to go 'til the power was supposed to come back on. Slept off most of that, thankfully.

SATURDAY: Spent the afternoon hanging out at SM MOA w/ Beijinoy friend Jan Tiu. We had Sbarro's, made account inquiries at BDO (UITF stuff) and looked for her KrisKringle gift (still deciding between card reader and wrist/ankle weights). If it wasn't for the b-day for A-Kim at Talayan Village we would've stayed to watch the whole concert of the San Miguel Orchestra. After dropper her home and enduring the traffic jam I got to Achi Abeth's house late, but the line to the buffet was just under way, w/c makes me just in time. :)

SUNDAY: Internet connection was crap (single digit dl speed!), so I was surprised to find that it's now at triple digits. Finished season 1 of Sleeper Cell, but now have too many movies to finish.

A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Funeral Home...

Actually, the funny thing happened at the funeral home itself. A few of went to the nearby PAZ to pay our respects to my cousin's cousin's father, who died from liver cancer complications. Thankfully the son (old friend of mine) was not the only familiar face in the crowd. His batchmates from high school were there, and his sister who came home from Ohio, and I considered most of them to be my friends.

As with most Chinoy wakes the mood was mostly lively and chatty. I admit I didn't even look at the body, and just spent my visit chatting away with friends, and found myself catching up w/ people I never even thought of in a long time. It was like a small SCJS Homecoming party.

One of them asked me to help hook him up with someone from my high-school batch. So, to any interested female Ad-Extremians out there: DAM, mid-30s, 1 child (joint custody) and w/ a steady job in Silicon Valley. Outgoing, sporty, Protestant, liberal Republican (iffy) and says the woman must be willing to move to San Francisco, California. Don't worry, he'll handle your immigration papers. Quite the catch, he is....

Boy, the things I do for fellow Judenites.

Typhooey

The storm named (internationally) Typhoon Durian wrecked havoc in Region 5 but thankfully missed Metro Manila. The anticipated Milenyo-like rains and winds never came, but instead died out in the middle of the night. There's still a bit of drizzling and a "slight" breeze, but as NCR residents would attest rain always posed a bigger problem than wind. Dust, dirt or leaves blowing into your face is preferable to streets flooded with polluted water.

It's almost a waste how much preparation the cities went through in anticpation for the typhoon. Billboard ads were taken down. People moved to large basketball courts. We stocked up on water and charged cellphones, emergency lamps and MP3 players (okay, the last one's just me). In the end it was just a big disaster coordination drill rehearsal, where everyone does everything right and no-one dies. Bit dull, actually.

Today's an offical holiday, and classes were called off yesterday, so this makes for a looong weekend. Literally a silver lining to the dark (storm) cloud.

Family Tied

My cousin decided to get married this week. In Hong Kong. (Less guests to invite this way. ) His dad's livid, sort of. First his youngest told him he wanted to be a standup comedian, now the eldest is taking getting married abroad to a non-Chinese girl. Old school hangups, for sure. Hopefully I'd be more open-minded w/ any future brood of my own, 'though that would require an emotional detachment, w/c is almost impossible. Baby steps...

Veggie Casserole Tastes Good

Ma’s birthday was on the 22^nd, but we opted to hold the Big Dinner Party on the 25^th, or Saturday. Now that the party’s over we have naught but the leftovers to deal with: herb rosemary chicken in olive and garlic, cannelloni (w/c looked like lasagna) and broccoli-cauliflower casserole. For once the leftovers weren’t so bad, except for the fried rice. But ask me again in a week when they’ll still be around and I’ll be crapping casserole. Mmm... fibre.

Manny Pacquiao Wins

...so nothing else happened in The Philippines today.

NOTHING.

10 Thoughts on Casino Royale (Spoilers!)

Preface: Made it to the Promenade cinema w/ minutes to spare. Also, one Smokey's footlong hotdog and a regular-sized Fuzion fruit smoothie does not a complete meal make.

Anyhoo...

• This may be the first time the actual actor playing Bond (in this case Layer Cake's Daniel Craig) was incorporated in the opening credits. Sixties Hollywood movie trailers meets Money for Nothin' music video meets iPod commericals (you'll have to see it to get it). Song sucked, tho'.
• In the first major action scene, the agile running dude DJ and I dubbed Black Spider-Man (or Black Jackie Chan) was French free runner Sebastien Foucan. No wires and cables strapped to that guy's crotch. It was pure Parkour.
• If our blonde Bond wasn't an MI6 agent, he would've made a helluva parking valet. Speaking of w/c, only in the movies can you park a horse on the beach w/o any posts.
  
• The movie disrupts 007 continuity a bit w/ Dame Judi Dench's appearance as M. In GoldenEye she was newly appointed as M while Pierce Brosnan's Bond was already a vet in the 00 service, but here it seems she's the one that actually promoted Bond to 00 status. Mebbe they should've called it Bond Begins.
• Cute cameos by Alessandra Ambrosio, Richard Branson and Joy Luck Club's Tsai Chin, who was a Bond girl in You Only Live Twice. Still, having first known her as "Waverly's mom," there is no way I will think she's hot.
• As soon as Vesper Lind showed up I thought alright, she's either going to betray him or die. Thankfully she doesn't disappoint on both counts. And finally, a villain who wasn't out for world domination (or some variation of it), just the money.
  
• I would've enjoyed the movie more if I'd only brushed up on my knowledge of poker, 'coz there was a lot of it in this film. I was expecting Mel Gibson's Maverick to show up. Drunk, of course, and blaming the Jews for everything.
  
• I guessed wrong w/ the big-ass plane not blowing up, but not w/ Vesper's betrayal, w/c was practically being telegraphed. Bond in love and quitting? Oh, ya KNOW sumptin' ain't right.
  
• Perhaps another reason why Bond was almost gadget-less (save for the portable mini-defibrillator-- w/c does exist) was because the original Q, Desmond Llewelyn, had already passed away, and getting John Cleese back would've looked silly.
  
• This Bond movie puts all the ones that came before it to shame, especially that "comedy" mess that was the original 1967 Casino Royale. If you've never of it, count yourself lucky.

I Knew I Should've Brought My Digicam

So many interesting sights seen today, the one time I neglected to bring my Ixus40 w/ me to Makati (not counting last week w/ the German cartoon shorts screening).

Henry Calayag's H Salon moved from the 2nd floor of Rustan's to the 4th floor of Glorietta 4, near cinemas 4,5 and Wendy's. Definitely a.. different atmosphere than the one I'm used to when I visit, and by different I mean louder. Even the ice tea was served in a less fanciful glass, and-- gasp!-- turned out to be coming from the common fast food drink dispenser!

The salon's still a work in progress, as the smell of lacquer thinner will attest to, along with exposed, cold concrete floors and walls of glass smudged w/ so many hand and fingerprints it would take all 3 CSI franchises to catalogue them all. And why-oh-why did they settle for a pearlescent tile motif?!? I'll definitely miss the fancy lavatory, w/ it's glass sink counter and... the fact that there was a lavatory, as this place seemed to be lacking it.

After my haircut I bought a turkey sub and went to CoffeeBean & Tea Leaf to hang out. While waiting for my order of Moroccan Mint I ran into old DLSU batchmates Lolita Lachica and Jona Cham, themselves just hanging out. So we hung out together for the next coupla hours: me waiting for Ma's haircut-and-dye job to finish, Lolit taking work-related calls on her phone, Jona just passing time eating Choco Baby. Afterwards we exchanged contact numbers (rrgh, forgot my camera and my calling cards!).

Fifteen German Animated Shorts on The Wall, Fifteen German Animated Shorts...

I attended a screening of German animated short films w/ Lola at the Adamson Building in Makati (thank god parking was easy and free). It reminded me of the first time I attended a screening of the Japanese filmfest, since the animated shorts were shown in a relatively small room with only 3 rows of seats. Today was also the last day of screening, so it quickly became an SRO event. Before the screening began I mentioned to Lola that there seemed to be common look among the female attendees: long, past-shoulder-length hair wrapped with a single band, dull-colored casual dress w/ a light sweater, and glasses. It almost looked like a female Clark Kent convention.

Afterwards we had dinner had Italiannis at GB2, where our waitress turned out to be my 2nd cousin Ivy (Michelle's little sister and Philip's 1st cousin). who's on paid OJT. From the moment she introduced herself as our waitress for the evening to when she was clearing up our plates my penchant for remembering faces but not names was proving to be a bother. What made it more embarrassing was that she was practically family! It was only when I finally mentioned that she looked familiar that she mentioned our connection. And as a nice ending to this tale she gave us a 20% dicount on dinner! Left her a big tip, despite her protests.

Anyhoo, my short thoughts on the 15 short flicks:

• Gil Alkabetz, Rubicon - Reminded me of Bill Plympton's work, w/c wasn't a bad thing
  
• Jochen Ehmann, HOBO - Whuh???
  
• Lars Henkel, The Patchwork Queen - Whuh???
  
• Daniel Höpfner, Cherchez la Femme - Whuh??? Oh, and WHUH???
  
• Andy Kaiser, Harara - Confusing. Pruny.
  
• Tine Kluth, Ghost Train - A little sad, with Boxing Helena homage
  
• Raimund Krumme, The Message - Fido Dido w/ indie flavor
  
• Jochen Kuhn, Recently 2 - Didn't watch Recently 1. Should have.
  
• Daniel Nocke, The Modern Cyclops - Wish it had better animation to go with quirky story
  
• Hannes Rall, The Raven - The Simpsons version was better
  
• Chris Stenner, Heidi Wittlinger, Rocks - Watching life pass by in "rock time" was cool.
  
• Jan Thüring, Terminal: Paradise - (See thoughts on The Modern Cyclops)
• Thomas Voigt, The Moment - Trippy Animal Planet moment
  
• Johannes Weiland, "Hessi James" - A Bug's Life meets Woody Allen
  
• Kirsten Winter, Escape - They shoulda closed with Hessi James.

Spider-Man 3's Venom

Yowza!

Lost on Lost? Take Losticil!

Click on the blank space below. Seriously.

I Think That I Shall Never See...

... a poem as denuded as our tree right now.

A crew from Manila Seedling finally came by to assess the damage Typhoon Milenyo wrought upon our mango tree. Bad news: they were gonna amputate. And amputate they did. The tree went from oversized rhubarb plant to biblical burning bush, sans the burning.

Well, at least placing the Xmas lights on it this year won't be too difficult.

Cloning on The Day of the Dead

My latest clone pix series was shot during our annual visit (today) to Manila Memorial Park in Dasmariñas. I kept the poses rather plain ('coz who wants to act like an ass in a cemetery), so I tried to make up in quantity what's lacking in quality.

Because Rad Took It, Too. :)

the Wit

(66% dark, 30% spontaneous, 21% vulgar)

your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK
You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.

I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer.

Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion.

You probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm
talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais

When a Stranger Calls

I like talking to friends on the phone. Even when YM, MSN, and IM came about I still preferred yakking it up til my ears became sore. And with ears like mine that could take a while.

Why? Maybe it's because my favorite people to converse with, while great to talk to, are notoriously bad with the "follow-up IM," which is when they'd reply to my first text message but not to any follow up IMs, or maybe they don't reply at all. Frankly that's a pain in the butt. You can also chalk it up to my being a cheapskate. I should say that I like talking to friends on a landline. It's old school, but free old school.

In a related subject, last night I was again scoring a zero batting average getting in touch w/ friends on the phone. Last night it was 5 straight calls, and with the 4 of 'em the party was not at home. The fifth one was busy (writing). If I believed in such things I'd think fate was telling me to give it up and head for the showers. But like a Deal or No Deal contestant on his last throes of the game (Hey, I could still win 50 bucks!), I made another call. Success! She was supposed to watch Sex and the City on DVD but we managed to chat for quite a while.

Our conversation was interrupted by an IM from one of the persons I tried to contact earlier. She apologized for her brusqueness earlier and asked that I call her at home. This was the girl my bank manager wanted to fix me up with. All I had was cell number, so I was surprised that she texted me her home number.

Afterwards I called her. All I knew was she's 26 and works at ChinaBank. The conversation quickly turned Small World After All when it turned out that she's a batchmate to a Beijinoy from ICA. Soon she was asking me what fellow ICAn's been doing ("School, I think...") and why I didn't make any moves on her ("I don't think I'm her type"). Well, that's one thing in common, I guess. And she watches House, w/c can't be a bad thing.

I asked if she'd like to meet up tomorrow (today), since it was a holiday and neither of us had any pressing matters to attend to. Yeah, yeah, too soon some might say, but I say life's short. She was of the former opinion, and politely declined the invite. Understandable. So, final assessement: English not her first language, likes to read, not a big TV person, likes going out w/ friends. Watches House and Grey's Anatomy. Nice enough, at least on the phone. Still awaiting a picture. ;)

Not Quite Like You've Got Mail...

So I get this Hello message outta the blue on my YM, see? Man, more porn spam? I thought. Turns out it was a girl from China, looking for a Beijinoy dude she hooked up w/ as a language partner and (I'm assuming) semestral fling. Hmm, intriguing... She also asked if dude was seeing another girl.

Chatted for almost 2 hours. She seems interesting, and a bit on the unintentionally flirtatious side (quick rebound). I missed The Daily Show, but I could download it later, anyway. At first I didn't believe her 'coz her English was too good. Turns out she's on her 3rd year of English studies at BLCU. Future conservations may follow.

UPDATE: In a bizarre twist, 2nd conversation with girl from China turns into a soap plot. Turns out she's not a girl from China, but the other girl she was supposedly asking about. Long story short: she's not Chinese, but at least (from her picture, anyway) it's an improvement. Viva Italia!

Hmm, girl I like just came back from working abroad. My bank manager wants to set me up w/ another client's daughter. Another friend's almost done w/ her "mourning period" and may soon be allowed to go out again. When it rains it pours. I have so much yet so little. Story of my social life.

Long Ally McBeal Quote

This speaks to my inner TV geek, but it's underlying message is a truism for me.

In this episode of Ally McBeal Ling, as owner of a mud-wrestling club, is being sued by MOPE (Mothers Opposed to Pornographic Entertainment), who are trying to shut the club down. Nelle is defence attorney:

Ling: The idea that it degrades women is ridiculous. Every woman wants to be thought of as desirable. Imagine, they can go home at night and say "Even in mud, I look good!"
Nelle: You have to admit this activity does objectify them?
Ling: So?
Nelle: Ling, how can it not be a little degrading, women stranding around in bathing suits ? Guys whooping?
Ling: First, the women there make nearly a hundred thousand dollars a year. How? These drunken Neanderthals hurl money at them. Go into that club. You come out with a lower opinion of men, trust me.
Nelle: That could be true, but these girls do make that money with their bodies.
Ling: They make it, by teasing men with something they'll never get their hands on. That goes to the very essence of a woman.
Nelle: Excuse me?
Ling: Sex is a weapon. We all use it, we tease, we tantalize, we withhold it, something we do in almost every walk of life, be it marriage, business... God gave us that advantage by giving men the dumb stick.

Attorney: So as a woman you see nothing wrong with putting out naked girls in a ring, rubbing mud on their breasts for the sole purpose of titillating men?
Ling: No!
Attorney: Nothing at all ?
Ling: Suppose we put them in a ring as boxers, and cheer for one to knock the other unconscious, would that be better?
Attorney: You're comparing boxing to mud-wrestling ?
Ling: Of course not. Boxing is worse, talk about reducing people, let's pay two men to beat on each other, how rich!
Attorney: Have you ever met any women in your club ?
Ling: Why should I?
Attorney: Never bothered to check out their backgrounds, find out why it is their living is based on sexual desires?
Ling: It would be hypocritical for me to ask, it would suggest I care.
Attorney: Maybe a few of them feel like they have little choice. Perhaps for some it represents their only choice.
Ling: Well, then how lucky they are to have you to take that choice away! With feminists like you, who needs chauvinism?

Departed Weekend

My personal cash savings were wiped out from comics shopping at both Comic Odyssey branches of the Robinson's malls during their weekend sale. (See ya soon, ATM.) Ah, the things we do for bigger discounts... Most of the books I got were to fill up holes in my collection (Supreme, Black Panther, The Demon, Planetary, JLA Confidential) and for eventual resale (Superman, New and Young Avengers, Ultimate Spider-Man).

Also caught The Departed at Galleria w/ Lola. We first drove to the Promenade, yakking away at the queue only to find out that it wasn't showing in their theaters! (That'll teach us to pay more attention to the Now Showing posters.) In the end it was back to Galleria, where we ordered takeout dinner for the movie: Party-sized stuffed crust Super Supreme Pan Pizza and two 22-ounce glasses of ice tea. For my first experience of eating pizza in the dark, let's just say it was an effort, as toppings kept falling off the pizza slice with each bite. Here's an idea, Pizza Hut: instead of filling up the crust w/ mozzarella why not place the cheese on top of the toppings so they won't fall off?

Yeah, she's probably had better belated birthday parties.

My 10 thoughts on The Departed, w/ spoilers:

1. It must be nice for Jack Nicholson to get to play a role that allows him to look like a slob. He could just wake up, neither shave nor shower and, voila, it's Frank Costello on the job.
2. If you're not a fan of being drowning in a cacophany of fake Bostonian accents, then this film is not for you. Wicked re-tah-ded.
3. I thought Mark Wahlberg's Sergeant Dignam and Vera Farmiga's Dr. Madolyn wassername could've been played by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson, respectively. Mebbe it might've been too distacting a visual to have both Mulder and Scully in a project not related the The X Files, though not as distracting a scene as Scully doing the dirty deed with Leo DiCaprio's Billy Costigan.
4. Couple of plot points came outta nowhere for me, w/c is both good as bad. Frank Costello as FBI snitch? Oohh. cool. Dr. Madolyn falling for Leo while seeing Matt Damon? Where'd that come from? They coulda at least provided some backstory to justify her falling for the damaged psyche that was Leo's character.
5. What a star-studded cast. DiCaprio, Nicholson, Damon, Baldwin. I half expected Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci to just pop up and yell "Surprise! Where Marty goes, we go!"
   
6. Speaking of Alec Baldwin, the man can just chew up the freakin' scenery. It's like everyone else was given a script while he just got an outline and improvised his lines. Brilliant! And, boy, was he fat in this film.
7. Plot question: If the Chinese gangster/goverment rep was from the Mainland why was he speaking Cantonese? That's the main language of Hong Kong.
   
8. When the beatdown scences were first shown I thought maybe Scorcese was losing his touch in the Brutal Violence departmart. Thankfully he more than makes up for it near the end of the film. I was chuckling at the movie audience's reactions to the lead actors being offed one by one in a short span of time.
   
9. Oh, HA-ha w/ the rat walking across the balcony beam at the end. In terms of subtlety the movie title was more cryptic as to what the movie was about.
   
10. After seeing this film I'm now more psyched to watched Infernal Affairs I and II.

My Mantras

"Don't dwell on it."
It being the Past.

And

"Get over her."
Her being... oh, right. Over her. Got it.

Saturday Morning (Comic) Odyssey

While browsing at Comic Odyssey w/ Eileen at Robinson's Ermita (after a great pizza and lasagna dinner) I came across the announcement of their new store opening at Robinson's Galleria the next day. What caught my attention was the part saying comic artists Leinil Yu and Gerry Alanguilan doing a store appearance to sign autographs. My inner fanboy was thinking of going, if only to make up for my failure to get Neil Gaiman's autograph last year.

And go I did. When I got there (2 hours before the scheduled signing, since after Gaimain I was trying to abvoid a mob), the store was already up and running, mob-free. They even had a buffet for (I'm assuming) the officially invited guests, so I was surprised when they invited me to partake of it. Cool, I was gonna get autographs, BBQ and chicken pie!

Gerry singing my Superman: Birthright hardcover.

Then the artists finally came: Gerry of Superman: Birthright and Wasted fame; Wilson Tortosa of Battle of the Planets (G Force to the older crowd), Carlo Pagulayan and Jeff Huet of Hulk, and Edgar Tadeo... but no Leinil in sight. sigh.

Tortosa was the chattiest (not that the others were wallflowers, mind you), sharing inside stories w/ fans. I first got Tadeo's autograph on my Warren Ellis penned Wolverine issues (Not Dead Yet), as he was Leinil's inker that time. After I got Alanguilan to sign the New X-Men annual and Superman: Birthright he told me Leinil was already on his way. Whew! Don't wanna sound crass but it woulda been a bummer if I only got the John Hancocks of the supporting cast but not the lead star.

When Leinil did finally arrive I was amazed at... his resemblance to my kinakapatid Emark. I always told Emark that if he really wanted to he could've pursued a career as a comics artist, seeing as how they share similar backgrounds as architectual graduates and both draw very well. But he didn't, as is currently an illegal alien in the US. But I digress.

I managed to be the third guy in line (luckily the guy w/ the huge stack of books wandered off). A Tsinoy guy, Wilmark Yu, was acting kinda pushy (I'm guessing he's loaded) asking to buy Leinil's art and sorta demanding sketches. Still, it was when Leinil offered to do a sketch for the guy in front of me did I muster up the nerve to ask for one myself.

So done and done. Got my lost issues of Supreme (finally completing my Alan Moore Supreme collection), Leinil and Co.'s autographs, and a free lunch!

Leinil Yu's Clark Kent sketch for yours truly. But we're not a couple.

Holy Crap, I'm Lisa Simpson

You Are An ISFJ

The Nurturer You have a strong need to belong, and you very loyal. A good listener, you excell at helping others in practical ways. In your spare time, you enjoy engaging your senses through art, cooking, and music. You find it easy to be devoted to one person, who you do special things for. You would make a good interior designer, chef, or child psychologist.

What's Your Personality Type?

Deja View

Once upon a time Pixar was the only studio making full-length CGI animated films, like Toy Story. Then Dreamworks Animation got into the game, and all semblence of original story ideas started to deteriorate. Pixar had A Bug's Life, DW had Antz. (insects) Pixar: Monsters, Inc. DW: Shrek. (imaginary creatures) Pixar: Finding Nemo. DW: Shark Tale. (fish) Pixar: Cars. DW: Robots. (metal objects)

Get the picture? Either one production company has a mole in the other, or someone's writing down the basic premise on 2 Post It notes, giving one to each company, and whoever crafts a better story wins. So far IMO Pixar's ahead, since --w/ the exception of Toy Story 2 (w/c they were under contract from Disney to make)-- they haven'tt double-dipped in the story idea bowl.

Now everybody wants in on the game. There's Disney's The Wild vs DW's Madagascar (jungle animals). Future flicks include Pixar's Ratatouille vs DW's Flushed Away (rats) and Warner Brother's Happy Feet vs Sony Pictures Animation's Surf's Up (penguins, despite the fact that the titles have nothing to do with them, as penguins neither dance nor surf).

I Have Da Powah

Ugh. At this day and age it is agonizing to go more than 24 hours without electricity or phone lines.

Typhoon Milenyo has come and gone, leaving floods, uprooted trees and collapsed electric posts/ billboard signs in its wake. Today was cleanup day, particularly with our poor mango tree, w/c had even more branches cut off in an attempt to balance the weight, 'lest it finally give up and crash unto the street below. Fortunately trees, unlike humans, can stand living like a mutiple amputee.

My day yesterday was spent keeping water from coming into my room. Strong winds and rain kept slamming into the windows. Rolled up towels were pushed into crevices while the water outside seeped into the corners that I failed to seal properly with silicone gel. If nothing else at least now I know it needs doing over.

In the afternoon that same day I drove out w/ Wilson to buy some gas for the generator (w/c I predicted--correctly--wouldn't work). Managed to take some pix of the devastation, mostly in the form of downed trees. That most of the fastfood restaurants and gas stations were closed was more of an afterthought.

Right now the phones are still out, and I'm in dire need of a showah. Also need to catch up on past downloads. Yup, I gots my priorities staight.

More typhoon related pix after the jump.

It's A Small World After All...

I love getting to use a blog title that holds the right amount of irony. Case in point, a story from my brother, that almost sounds urban legendy:

Lawyer arrives at his daughter's birthday party. Lawyer's wife made all the arrangements, so his shock upon seeing the party theme was understandable.

The party organizers chose a Disney Mickey Mouse theme, complete with a guy in full MM costume. Why the shock? Seems the lawyer represented clients who held Mickey's intelluctual property rights, which the party organizers were blatantly violating. At his daughter's birthday party.

Long story short: he had them arrested (presumably after having a looong talk w/ his wife). Whether it was during or after the party, I'm not sure. I'm hoping it's the latter. Who needs to have kids traumatized from seeing cops slap the cuffs on Mickey Mouse?

* * *

Speaking of kids, presenting for no reason other than he looks sooo cute here, new pictures of my nephew, Jian:

Uh-Oh

Coup attempt by the Thai opposition goverment in progress. An army commander has declared martial law.

So much for the that trip to Bangkok I didn't plan.

* * *

My cloning hobby has now reached Hollywood. Sorta. Click here.

Free Movie

Went to the Shang mall w/ Lola to catch Doraheita, one of two samurai jidai geki (period film) being featured at the 4th Japanese Filmfest. The last time I went was in college at the CCP, where the "cinema" was a small room that resembled one where you'd hold AA meetings or anger management classes. It's also the first samurai film I've watched since Zatoichi.

Got two surprises that evening. The first was to see an old Beijinoy friend (who as of late stopped taking my calls) on (I assume) a date. You know those awkward moments where you wave Hi to someone who's not on speaking terms w/ you (but not you w/ them, if you could help it), and they're caught unawares and wave/shurg/nod back, an awkward smile across their face? I live for those. Pseudo-karma, baby.

The second was the cinema offering the tickets free of charge! We expected to pay 50 bucks each, so good thing we decided to catch this instead of that Aussie filmfest over at Greenbelt 3 (your loss, The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morell). Definitely a cool way to catch a flick at one of the priciest cinemas in town.

The flick itself, it wasn't so bad. Typical Japanese action-drama with bits of comedy, though the whiffing noises made by the kimonos when the characters moved were definitely distracting. Also definitely PG, as evidenced by the bloodless swordfights and jiujitsu moves in the action scenes. But, hey, it was free.

In what's almost becoming a ritual for both us (but not likely, given our schedules) we had a nightcap at Starbucks Ash Creek. What caught our eye was their ongoing photo contest. Then and there we decided to join and already thought of what kind of picture to submit. Hee hee, exciting! And for the 5K top prize it's a steal!

As Alanis Morrisette Might Say...

"Isn't it ironic," or somesuch lyrics.

My house's security camera was stolen last night. (Our security guard can be just as useless at times.) That's like robbers coming to the bank to steal the vault door.

My fondest memory of the security camera was when it captured the images of someone stealing the side-mirror off my cousin's car w/c was parked outside the house at the time. (My cousin later gave brief chase, to no avail) I say captured loosely since we don't actually record the videos taken. (See what I mean by useless?)

Ooooh, I'm Sooo Scared

In today's Philippine Daily Inquirer:

Doesn't seem to have as much impact, I think.

Hairspill (UPDATED)

For the past couple of weeks local media have been reporting on the oil spill in Guimaras. From that also came follow-up features like possible health hazards the spill imposes, Senate investigations/blame-game and of course, how to clean it up. It's the amount of reportage (or specifically, the subject) on that last one that's bewildering.

Hair. Seems human hair is perfect for absorbing oil spills like a mop. Now cut and shaven hair is being collected all over the country. Jailed convicts are volunteering getting their chromes domed. Salons are collecting and donating their hair haul. Congresswoman Imee Marcos crudely suggested that her fellow politicians donate their spare wigs to the cause (though her mom Imelda's hair alone could probably suck up a liter or two, easy). There was even an event organized to collect the cut hair of celebrities. (Right, because nothing sucks up goo like famous hair.)

Noble intentions aside, this is the 21st century. It's not like WWII where Americans were encouraged to save every scrap of metal they had for the war effort. There are alternatives out there, people. All this hair talk is becoming this year's AIDS ribbon.

Scientists have already come up with several strains of oil eating bacteria like Bio-System B35, which is probably more efficient. And unlike clumps of hair saturated with crude oil, the bacteria won't leave a mess that would resemble the world's largest clogged shower drain.

UPDATE: Okay, it turns out NO formal study has been done on the effectiveness of human hair for cleaning up oil spills. None. Seems the idea was based on the use of coconut husks and its own effectiveness. Long story short: "Genius" thought coconut husk = human hair = just as effective! Also, environmentalists opposed to the idea say the untreated human hair (particularly those that come from salons) might do more harm, as the artificial chemicals in the hair might interact w/ the already messed up enviroment.

Photoshop Fun

The Before Pic...

...and the After Pic.

Spot the differences! There is no prize involved. My services are now for hire. :)

Days Gone By

Haahh... updates, updates... This long blog entry was inspired by my missing-in-action-friend (several months and counting) Bitey's recent long blog entry.

Aug 25. The week was mostly spent anticipating the Beijinoy reunion dinner w/ Manol, who's back from Shanghai on vacation. Heavy rains delayed my departure from the house, and 40 minutes was spent trying to find a parking spot (30 of them at Greebelt3's basement parking when the booth lady wanted to charge me the minimum 40 bucks, and in a Seinfeld-ish moment I protested, saying that's fine if I actually parked my car here, so in the end she just made me sign the receipt and let me out). It was when I tried out Greenbelt's valet parking service that I found P90 reasons why more people don't.

Finally got to Recipes. Turns out I have been here before. And I didn't like the food back then. Ah, but it's the company that counts, right? Well, I was reminded why I hate being late. Either you run out of good seats, or most of the only people you know start/have to leave. Weng, Kathy and Tin left, and soon me and Pyao (and later on Dave, Lyndon and Dennis to some extent) were left with Manol and his Shanghai posse, w/c he failed to introduce properly to us, w/c made for lots of listening but no talking on my end. Already I has getting Oyster Boy flashbacks.

Now as much as I like to accomodate a friend's requests for "wanting to see everyone," I wish Manol had planned separate get2gethers for Beijinoys and Shanghainoys. Sigh. I'm just saying: my ability to handle a large group of people improves when I know them all.

* * *

Aug 26. With 2 hours to kill before Wilson picks me up from home (and off to Rockwell where I was in charge of videotaping SJCS Batch '86's 20th anniv reunion), I drove out to Starbucks at Ash Creek to meet up with Lola. We exchanged items: for her the Firefly, Mirrormask and Neverwhere DVDs (w/c I burned for her), for me the Tim Burton's Corpse Bride movie photobook. Took pictures and chatted the rainy hours away. Finally I dropped her off at SM Centerpoint.

CUT TO ME and WILSON driving off to Rockwell (with brief SEGUE to FRIEND'S HOUSE in Greenhills to pick up the nametags). Wilson and Ogie were in charge of the multimedia presentations (read: slideshows). I, having seem to much Battlestar Galactica or NYPD Blue in my lifetime, started going off with fast zooms in and out, 3-5 second cut scenes and really giving the autofocus a workout. The first half of footage taken would be best seen as a montage.

The second half was comprised of the program proper, with the slideshow, games, and a raffle. We got there at 6:30 PM and left 6 hours later. Too bad the one Batch 86er I was most familiar with (besides my brother)-- Katherine Go-Alcantara-- didn't attend.

Aug. 27. Hunh. Weird. Completely blacking out on what I did yesterday. Oh, yeah, planning for a dinner reunion with the HuaQing Apartment Bejinoys.

Okay, so the post wasn't as long as I thought.

YM Haiku

When eating breakfast
And using YM she says,
"Stop bugging me." Sigh...

Pre-weekend Outings

I don't really have a quota for how many times a week I go out w/ friends, or that it has to be on weekends. It's just that in these 2 instances I was the invi-tee, not the invi-ter (are those even words?). And who doesn't like hanging out w/ friends?

WEDNESDAY: I met up with Diana, TinTin and JC at Bon Appetit in Rustan's Makati for the restaurant's cold buffet dinner. We were later joined by Tin's BF Pei (from Thailand), whom we then accompanied to TGIFridays to watch him eat. I asked Tin and Pei if people ever mistook them for siblings, and it turns out it was quite often. Not surprising, given their slightly similar facial features and skin tone. Hell, I thought Pei was her brother when he joined us at Bon, but only because I didn't recognize him at first, since when I first met him a couple of months ago his hair was much shorter. Afterwards we all walked back to Pei's apartment at Oakwood to pick up their stuff. Nice digs. Gotta say, if I was planning a military coup with disgruntled AFP cadets, this would be a nice place to do it.

THURSDAY: Went to the Megamall branch of Powerbooks to meet up w/ Lola (also bought third Ex Machina tpb on sale). The plan was to watch a German silent film that was accompanied by music from Radioactive Sago Project (w/c beats listening to... silence or the sound of popcorn being chewed, I guess). She said she received email saying the movie was supposed to show there. The papers I read said the movie was showing at Greenbelt (and did so 2 days ago). Turns out I and the papers were right. While we made our U-turn from the end of the theatre lobby (Supermans Returns still playing, apparently), I saw couples w/ bewildered looks, as if also finding out that the German film was nowhere to be found. I'm guessing they got the same email as Lola.

In the end we just chatted the night away at Starbucks in Ash Creek in Ortigas Street, w/c, IMO, was a better way to spend to evening.

Is Isagani A. Cruz Homophobic?

If there's one thing I learned from journalism (or as least media's depiciton of journalists like J. Jonah Jameson and The Daily Show), one way to avoid libel charges is to phrase your would-be controversial statements in the form of a question.

Isagani A. Cruz, Former Philippine Supreme Court Associate Justice, a name so famous he needs to use his middle initial to distinguish him from Isagani R. and Isagani plain, wrote this in his column in the Philippine Daily Inquirer (color scheme and emphasis mine):

"Now homosexuals are everywhere, coming at first in timorous and eventually alarming and audacious number..."

"And the schools are now fertile ground for the gay invasion... Now many of its pupils are gay, and I don’t mean happy. I suppose they have been influenced by such shows as “Brokeback Mountain,” our own “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros”..., “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” and that talk program of Ellen Degeneres, an admitted lesbian."

"Is our population getting to be predominantly pansy? Must we allow homosexuality to march unobstructed until we are converted into a nation of sexless persons without the virility of males and the grace of females but only an insipid mix of these diluted virtues? Let us be warned against the gay population, which is per se a compromise between the strong and the weak and therefore only somewhat and not the absolute of either of the two qualities. Be alert lest the Philippine flag be made of delicate lace and adorned with embroidered frills."

Holy crap, there are just so many things wrong with this piece. Want proof? Replace the words gay/homosexual with, I dunno, black or Muslim to see how bigoted it sounds.

The man seems to be coming from the same school of thought that says watching movies or tv programs depicting either sex or violence will make you sexually active or violent. I have yet to hear of any incident or study that says repeated viewings of Queer Eye or Ellen would eventually change a youth's sexual orientation. Teach you better manners or grooming tips, maybe. Better people skills, maybe.

"Must we allow homosexuality to march unobstructed?" Do you think they're organzing formally somewhere in the city, sir, hatching up schemes to wreak havok on the heterosexual community? Lightning gay rallies, perhaps?

If anything, we should be warned of not against the gay population, but against people like Isagani A. Cruz who seem to view gays as some kind of threat to humanity.

My Favorite Martian Mug

A crappy way to start the morning. (Good thing this was the only crappy thing to happen.)
My ceramic Marvin the Martian coffee mug (gift from Rachelle Tesoro, w/c has survived all these years, and even followed me to Beijing) was already filled with breakfast: Quaker Oats and Ovaltine. I turned around to head for the breakfast table to get some sugar. Seems I was carrying the mug a bit too low. Mug makes contact with the very-old-just-there-to-fill-up-that-gap-between-kitchen-counters gas range.

Suh-Mash!!!

A million pieces (if u include the dry oats and Ovaltine) all over the kitchen floor. Argh!

I mourn for my Marvin the Martian mug. Now all I'm left with is the big-@$$ yellow mug-bowl (or mowl) that I got in China.

My Beijinoy Weekend

This weekend I decided to hang out with my friends. True, I've made such decisions before w/ little success due to the unavailability of said friends (most of us have lives to live, I know), but thankfully that wasn't the case this time.

SATURDAY. I cut short my trip to SM North EDSA (mall-wide sale, comics, ridiculous traffic, etc.) to meet up with TinTin Ngo back at my house. Afterwards we drove to Diana's to pick her up before our final destination of the Promenade in Greenhills where we watched The Ant Bully (I'd do my usual 10 Thoughts On blog but the film just wasn't that interesting). Dinner at a new chicken resto (also not interesting enough for me to recall its name) followed, where I saw my cousin Osing, also having dinner w/ lady friends.

SUNDAY. Four days since my workout w/ Lyndon, and my upper body still hurts. This is what skipping weight-training for a week and a half does to you.

Even if I had lots of PC TV and comics to catch up on I opted to invite Diane (Ngo, no relation to TinTin) --who was feeling a bit down that day-- out to Greenhills (yeah, yeah, I'm shot for original ideas). My fears of a long drive time from my house to hers (and back) turned out to be unfounded as Congressional Road wasn't as traffic-ridden as I thought it would be, at least not at 2:30 in the afternoon. Picked her up, drove out to the Promenade where she had seafood crepe while I had a strawberry-banana fruit shake at Victor's crepe cafe (w/c I noticed had gotten smaller).

PC TV Pilot Previews

One advantage of getting more harddrive space is I can now download entire seasons of shows I never had the space to do so before. This time it's the entire runs of The Larry Sanders Show (finally!) and Sports Night. The former's a quick watch while the latter's jarring w/ the canned laugh track (any fan of Aaron Sorkin's shows know that his type of humor and laugh tracks don't mix).

Also (through no effort of my own) got to watch a couple of plilot shows that are supposed to debut (assuming they don't suck) this fall in the US. Now for some lazy descriptions and snap critiques, which are the reason why I'd make a crappy show pitcher.

• Angela's Eyes: Female FBI agent who's a human lie detector. Looks promising.
• Blade: The Series: this is after the movie trilogy. Pretty dark, literally. For a Daywalker you don't get to see Blade out in the afternoon sun much.
• Class: from the maker of Friends, w/c might explain the all-white cast. Funnier than Friends.
• Eureka: Northern Exposure meets Dexter's Lab. Promising.
• Our Thirties: Not funny.
• Psyche: Guy with keen eye for detail tells people he's psychic. Imagine Monk, only younger and w/o the OCD.
• Secrets of a Small Town: Big-time reporter returns to her hometown chasing a story. Secrets not enough to keep me interested. Pass (unless you're a real big fan of Angie Harmon).
• Runaway: The Fugitive with family members along for the run, only the wife's not dead and there's no One-Armed Man.
  
• Studio 60 On the Sunset Strip: Behind-the-scenes of a Saturday Night Live type show, brought to you by the guys who made The West Wing. Watch it for Amanda Peet, if nothing else. (hottie...)
• The Angriest Man in Suburbia: Comedy. Promising.
• The Shark: James Woods as loudmouthed defense lawyer turned prosecutor, complete with young legal team. Think House with lawyers, only more over-the-top, particularly the high-tech mock courtroom Wood's character had built underneath his house.
• The Singles Table: Comedy starring Harold of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. Funny.

Brokeback Batman?

When I read that Heath Ledger is set to play the Joker in the next Batman movie, I happened upon a picture of his online that I just had to tweak. It just seemed perfect.

Well, just to give you an idea for what to expect in a year or so.

Slightly Deaf Standup Comedian at 2

My niece Jade was holding a plastic bottle of glue.

Me: Do you know what that is?
Jade: No?
Me: That's glue.
Jade: Huh?
Me: Glue.
Jade: Gloo?
Me: Glue!
Jade: Glew?
Me: Yes, glue.
Jade: No, it's white.

Tele-Haiku

She said on the phone:
Don't you ever stop talking?
Annoyed but smiling.

Is This On?

I'm at the computer when my niece Jade (3 years old) sees the headset next to the speakers. She grabs it and tries putting it on my head, to no avail. (I have a big head, see...) So I put it on her head. Since it wasn't plugged in obviously I expected her not to hear anything. But I ask anyway.

ME: "Ano naririnig mo?"
JADE: "Ikaw."

Get it? 'Cause she heard me asking if she heard... nevermind.

Sunday w/ Jadis

Today I accompanied my friend Lola to The Fourth Philippine Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention at the Rockwell Tent. She joined the costume pageant as Queen Jadis (w/ matching Turkish Delight costume and staff) from The Chronicles of Narnia. I think the last time I saw this convention they just had booths and costumed people stationed outside the mall. Now they get their own building. Mostly the booths were for boardplay and exhibiting of wares. But worse (for me), no comics! The closest thing to a a comics-related booth was someone taking pages out of Previews magazines and sticking them on man-made stones (ala wallpaper) to sell as paperweights. So ridiculously simple I wish I'da thought of it.

Click here to read the rest of Sunday w/ Jadis.

10 Thoughts on Superman Returns (Spoilers)

Caught it tonight at GB3 w/ Goldy and DJ (after dinner at Fish & Co.) Even ran into Boit, Dionne and her cousins (while solving my SM Mall of Asia Identity Crisis at the same time.*)

• Pointless scene: Clark as a kid running and leaping through the fields. Didn't exactly push the story foward. This scene I would've cut instead of the Superman-returning-to-Krypton scene (so does that mean Krypton is at least 2.5 light years away from Earth?), w/c director Bryan Singer did because, at 2.5 hours, this movie was long enough. Didn't feel like 2.5 hours, though.
  
• Christ-like symbolisms were so "subtle" they might as well have entitled it The Passion of the Clark.
• Smarter dialogue than most superhero flicks (i.e. no lines made me want to cringe like the some of the dialouge in Spider-Man 2). Not-so-smart script, but it's almost expected that the "blockbusteryness" of a film is inversely proportional to the cleverness of the script.
• As a comic reader, it's nice to see a somewhat more "real world physics" depiction of trying to rescue a commerical plane falling at really fast speeds. Y'see, in comics all Supes woulda done is fly underneath the plane, guide it under his own flying powers then gently lower it wherever (see Man of Steel #1), all neat and tidy.
• Brandon Routh's Clark Kent/ Superman is Brandon Routh's. Any similarites to Christopher Reeves' depiction is probably Singer's doing, as he was trying to build continuity w/ the first 2 Superman films. As an aside, that meant the Daily Planet office had to update from typewriters to computers in a span of 5 years.
• Cast was okay, even the kid who played Superasthmatic Jason, who didn't deliver his lines w/ the annoying shrilly voice of the brat who played Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace. They didn't explain Lex Luthor's Captain Kirk-style boots, though.
  
• Unintentionally funny scene: creepy string music played while we see fast cuts of Luthor's many wigs resting on their headbusts.
• Mebbe I missed something, but: Lois was assigned the Superman story, while her story on the blackouts was given to Clark. Yet later Lois is seen doing all the work on the blackouts! Clark, ya lazy bastard. Also: Lex wanted to make his own land while destroying most of North America (why he couldn't do this in the Atlantic Ocean where there's PLENTY of space, I dunno), and he said he's protected from global retaliation by Kryptonian technology. Uh, what protection? Okay, the place was loaded w/ Kryptonite, w/c (at first) protected him from Supes, but then what? No anti aircraft missles, no force fields, no giant robots. NOTHING to protect Lex from being nuked. Hell, all he had was bumpy real estate, a helicopter and HENCHMEN PLAYING CARDS.
• At least the scene of Superman separating the "Dark Fortress of Solitude" from the Earth and lifting it to outer space made more sense as a "Superman Moment" than having him fly really fast in the opposite direction of Earth's rotation and turning back time.
• Better than X3, happier ending than X2, and would probably make for better DVD viewing than Batman Returns.

*As it turns out the girl managing the G-Wrap booth is Dionne's cousin Jennilyn(?), from batch '99 of SJCS.

The Fast and The Furious: Mandaluyong Drift

This is a tale of B.F. Idiot.

After a night of dinner and chat w/ friends, B.F. headed out to the parking lot. Once he drove the car to the exit gate, he realized that-- once again -- he misplaced the parking stub. He asked the attendant what color the ticket was (blue, she said). He then asked permission to park at the corner near the lot's entrance while he searched for the ticket.

B.F. turned every pouch in both shoulder and camera bags inside out. He looked in every compartment near the driver's seat. He groped the floor of the car (not in a dirty way). He even stepped out of the car to double check.

Nothing.

Several thoughts raced in his head, like you did it again, you #$@ing absentmined idiot, and yeah, the sign said: Lost ticket P200. Bad enough the steak and garlic rice dinner wasn't that good, now you have to pay for a lost ticket?

Or do you?

No traffic. No cop cars nearby. Hell, the staff attendants look indifferent. Can I back up without looking suspicious..?

After 10 minutes of ticket searching and comtemplating breaking the law (w/c now that he thinks about it, is more along the levels of jaywalking or not paying bus fare), B.F. backed up the car, had it face the right way on the road... and floored it. Without the lights on, at first. Yeah, real subtle. Headlights on, you idiot, he thought. No point in attempting to get away with it if you end up in an accident.

After crossing a red light, and a strange enounter where a big pedestrian walked slowly in front of him for about half a minute before finally letting the car pass, B. F. made it home.

And in a cruel twist of fate, guess what he found stuck at the side of the driver's seat when he got out of the car...?

Saturday w/ Mike

Spent the whole afternoon doing voiceover work for my friend Mike Lim, who's currently doing his thesis. The project: a series of short stories (to be rendered in Flash animation) focusing on homo/transsexual protagonists, or as I called it, "Gaynimation TM." ("Queertoons?")

Joining me in this pro bono project were Mike's other friends, composed of former students and fellow teachers (like Stephanie and Len, both seen in the pic). Though the subject and tone of the stories were supposed to be serious, the talents involved were anything but (in a good way). Injecting a humorous atmosphere was easy w/ all the double meanings in the script (probably unintentional) . Also we made the best of the situation of having only one microphone and a cramped recording booth. (Geez, where are those tuition fees going?) And for some reason the we were making some of the secondary characters (depicted as a bunch of a-holes, frankly) sound wasted/stoned.

Got home a little 'round after six. Spent the rest of the evening (after dinner) posting comments on comic-themed blogs. Yup, I live a semi-nerdy lifestyle.

"Workin' 9-2-5...."

Last Saturday Dale Carnergie Class 925 had its last full day of sessions (6 weeks, 12 sessions) at the 6th and 7th floor of Robinson's Corporate Tower. Stories were shared, tears shed, awards broken through and performances were outstanding. After graduation ceremonies the class went bowling at Paeng's. To cap off the evening some of us (15) headed for Metrowalk for a BBQ dinner at Yahoo, then danced and drank the night away at R&B music bar.

Parang Beijinoys ba?

If You Buy This...

...for yourself, you have my sympathies.
...for a friend, I will say to you, "Interesting choice," while giggling from the inside.
...for me, I might bonk you on the head with it.

It's a DVD rewinder.

Health Update

After more or less 6 months since my last blood test, my latest results are (sort of) cause for celebration. My cholesterol and triglyceride levels are now at normal levels. Who would've thought cutting down on mashed potatoes and steak would do the trick?

On the downside the change in diet now resulted in high uric acid levels. From what I've researched online, uric acid comes from the breaking down of purines, w/ high levels of the latter found mostly in high-protein foods. Luckily I don't eat the ones w/ really high levels, like anchovies, brains(!), kidneys and sardines. Unluckily, the ones I do often eat are of the medium level (Beef, Chicken, Mushrooms, Oatmeal, Pork, and Tuna).

Worse case scenario is gout, a disease I've only read about in circa 1970s encyclopedias and heard of in Chris Rock's comedy routine. Bad case scenario is kidney stones, w/c I've had before.

Hmm, so I can either cut down on the protein or re-introduce more carbs in my diet. And as always, more fruits and water. As for low level purine foods there's gelatin, cream-based soups (high sodium naman!) and tea.

Rats Off

The family just got back from our Father's Day dinner at Shangri-La Makati. About 15 mins past midnight (we were all still awake) Boit tells me to help Pa in the kitchen. Seems he's trapped a rat and was trying to kill it. I peeked into the kitchen door window to assess the situation. My father is armed with a squeegee, saw and wooden backscratcher (ya take what ya can, and the tool shed's next to the kitchen, anyway), and breathing hard from having moved the fridge.

After I handed him the flashlight, we managed to scare the vermin from out under the fridge, where it scrurried left and right. Between Pa's toneful whacks of the saw and klacks from the backscratcher, I was going at it w/ the squeegee while my inner gay man has going filthy! filthy! I finally stepped on it, while my father whacked it w/ the backscratcher.

But not before hitting my foot. Twice.

Long story short: Dad kills rat, much to his satisfaction. My right toe hurts.

Ironic way to start Father's Day, seeing as how my Dad was born in the Year of the Rat.

Fit at 150

After months of exercise, diet and (lack of) proper sleep I finally achieved my ideal weight of 150 pounds. Still have a slight gut, though, but the crunches have made it easier to suck it in. Seems losing weight is a lot easier than losing body fat (stupid love handles...).

I'd like to thank Tae Bo, the treadmill, increased fibre and decreased rice intake in my diet, hi-cal low fat milk, and my self-conscious image for helping me achieve this goal. (insert applause)

I'd like to push for 145-140, but now all my pants are ill-fitting, and I'm too lazy to take them in for alterations. Hmm, whey protein, perhaps...?

And I've got to stop scarfing down Chef Tony's popcorn in the afternoons! It's my scooby snack!

Decent (Enough) Proposal

Several families were in attendance for Boit's birthday at Saisaki West Avenue, including his girlfriend Dionne's family, w/c will become more apparent in a while.

Everyone was just about done with their lunch buffet meals. Mini-cakes from Bizu (and a pie-sized one from Saisaki) were brought out. The kids sung and blew on the candles, as did Boit and Dionne.

And while they held hands under the table, Boit slowly brought them up and subtly placed an engagement ring on Dionne's finger. No shock nor awe from her part (and if there was it must have been internal since I couldn't capture it on the vidcam), but all smiles. My side of the family already knew what was planned, so all that was left was for her to show the ring to her side of the family (w/c she did).

Frankly I think my brother was expecting something more akin to a Hallmark Moment: tears, hugs, girly screaming, the works. I probably should've told him from experience that male fantasies hardly/never turn out the way you... fantasize about them. That, and subtle begets subtle. Wouldn't have hurt for him to actually get down on one knee (sticky floor notwithstanding) and/or actually pop the question.

But whadda I know? I'm single.

Hope They Don't Get Cellphones...

My 5-year-old niece Jasmine comes for a visit, looking all haggard. Her mom says it's because she stayed up late last night chatting on the phone w/ my other 5-year-old niece Mia.

Exactly what topics of discussion can be brought up by 5-year-old brains to turn them into telebabads at such a early age bewilders me.

10 Thoughts on X-Men: The Last Stand (Spoilers)

1. Digital make-up is just creepy. Creepy when they used it to make Tobey Maguire look lethargic in Spider-Man, still creepy now when they de-aged Prof. X and Magneto.
2. Now everyone's going to equate floating objects and gravity-defying water as residual TK energy...
   
3. So much death, so little blood. Seems adamantium claws are hemoglobin resistant, and molecular disintegration is a more hygienic way to snuff someone. "It's for the kids..."
4. Interesting to note that while we're supposed to see mutant henchmen, all I see are minorities playing the cannon fodder. Just goes to show that even as mutants, Latino and Asian characters can't catch a break in Hollywood.
   
5. I think they had Prof. X act like a dick so when Jean Grey killed him you wouldn't feel too bad about it. Not that it was a problem in the end (credits)...
6. Well, Angel's role was a waste of time. And to think he got so much face time in the marketing of this film. Kitty Pryde gets a nod for swearing in the film, unlike Logan (a first, I think). Storm loses the South African accent and just went for the Halle "all lightning and fog but for some reason no hailstorm to f**k things up" Berry accent.
   
7. Maybe it's just me, but any school with it's own cemetary for anything other than pets or strays is just f**ked up. When my friend mentioned that the school was acutally a private residence, well, that's just even more f**ked up! "Hey, what happened to Bobby?" "Oh, he's in the backyard..."
8. Cliches and more cliches! I'm not sure what I hate more, dumb dialogue used to fill up a scence or cliches that think they're clever when spoken out loud.
9. Homages (or swipes) up the wazzoo, indicating either director Brett Ratner's love of cinema or lack of originality. The Matrix, Star Trek III, The Exorcist, Lawnmower Man, Gone with the Wind(!), and even Osama bin Laden videos.
   
10. It wasn't that bad. Sure, the movie had some bumps, but no more than the last one, as in the let's get Professor X and Cyclops outta the way YET AGAIN routine.

Ooh, and remind me to make a "I'm the Juggernaut, bitch!" T-shirt.

Dog Dale Afternoon

I'm halfway thru 6-week Dale Carnegie course, and already I've gotten both Breakthrough and Outstanding Performance awards (w/ matching pens), as well as been made president of the class. Amazing what a good command of the English language can do for you, particulary if you feel you're the most English-articulate student in the class.

(I must mention that my equal opportunity class will eventually award every student one B and OP award each; it's just that I was the second one to get it so quickly. Wonder if this means I shouldn't try harder in the next few sessions? Heheheheh...)

(Also, I think my winning the last name had more to do w/ my being the second to the last to perform, as, psychologically speaking, people tend for remember the first few and last few things they see when watching something in sequence.)

After class I watched X-Men: The Final Stand in Greenhills w/ DJ and her friend Yvette/Betsy. Also saw Katherine Siao while I parking and ran into Diane, Jeff and Cathy at Bizu. After a roast beef sandwich dinner at Tender Bob's (while braving the heavy wind and rain outside), I met w/my movie companions at Fuzion. DJ lent me her copy of season 2 of Battlestar Galatica while I lent Yvette/Betsy the comic CDs DJ returned to me.

My thoughts on the movie later.

PC TV Time

Got the house to myself last night (everybody else in Baguio while I stayed to attend the Dale Carnegie class), so I planned a little dinner party. Tacos (later burritos). I don't know whether it was the sudden downpour, invited guests forgetting or simple lack of courtesy that caused the no-shows, but only 2 people showed up.

My friend Wella said she also has a friend that acts an official gimik planner for their circle of friends, and she wouldn't think of doing it herself because of endless worrying and resentment for those that said would show up but don't. Boy, she hit the bullseye on that one.

If you say you're coming but don't, fine; but have the decency to try and contact me and tell me so. Maybe call/text the next day and apologize. Just don't leave me hanging.

* * *

Just finished watching the season finale of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, w/c unofficially ends my downloaded regular TV series viewing for 2005-06 season. And that's a lotta shows. The show(s) listed in red indicate my favorite of the lot--

1 Hour shows (or 44 mins w/o commmericals):

• 24
• CSI
• CSI: Miami
• CSI: New York
• Desperate Housewives
• Heist (cancelled early)
• House
• Law & Order
• Law & Order: SVU
• Law & Order: CI
• Nightstalker (cancelled early)
• Threshold (cancelled early)
• The Unit

Half-hour shows (or 22 mins w/o commericals):

• Arrested Development
• Everybody Hates Chris
• King of the Hill
• Kitchen Confidential (cancelled)
• The Loop (cancelled?)
• Malcolm in the Middle
• My Name is Earl
• The Office
• Scrubs
• The Simpsons
• Teachers (cancelled early)
  

And I haven't even counted the cable shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Sopranos, Penn & Teller's Bullsh*t! and Thief.

I calculated it to about 247 hours of TV. How I manage to get any work done is beyond me.

If You Didn't Like The DaVinci Code Movie...

...just so you know, the screenwriter, Akiva Goldsman, wrote Batman & Robin.

BATMAN. AND. ROBIN.