Alabangin' BBQ

Last Friday I was still in the midst of deciding whether to host a small dinner party Saturday at my place w/ Bejinoys Des and Ferndinand or just grab a bite at Rockwell. Fortunately Fernds had a better idea and invited us to attend his friend CB's birthday BBQ in Ayala, Alabang. I left the CRV (and inadvertently my cellphone) at Fernd's Asia Tower condo before we (along w/ Des and Ferd's Chinese-American friend Andy) took his AUV.

Traffic was terrible, but we still arrived plenty early at CB's house. Dude works in private security, w/c would explain all those flak jackets that hung in his room. Not sure how to explain the presence of his 30-pound cat, though. At the garden/pool grounds I tried out their 2-wheel rocking skateboard, w/c was definitely as difficult as it sounds to ride.

In the course of the evening, my tolerance for alcoholic drinks was tested (totaling 2 Red Horse, 1 SanMig light and 1 shot of J. Cuervo, w/c burned the back of my throat), but I got to meet cool folks like Anna (the unofficial party photographer/ part-time painter), Frisca (architect), Aryn (hand model and fellow VO artist), Rosanna (architect), Justin and Ria (San Miguel Marketing), Pico (other unofficial photographer w/ the better camera) Charisse and Carlos. I definitely forgot to mention some people or misspelled their names, so apologies in advance.

Initially we thought of only staying a couple of hours, but ended staying past midnight. Initially we were delayed because Fernd's brother Grand took the AUV to pick up his friends in P'que. But even after they returned we were all still mixing and mingling w/ the other party guests.

So just to make it clear, I'm not complaining. My worries were for w/ my "missing" phone (didn't know it was at Fernd's condo at the time) and not being able to text Elaine to tell her we wouldn't be able to meet her in Rockwell. When we finally left we still dropped off Des at Embassy before returning to Asia Tower.

I really glad I went to the party, as I rarely get a chance to meet new people and make new friends. Also really glad the 'Rents were in Naga for the weekend (to attend TinTin's engagement party), since coming home past 1AM is something they would've bugged me about the morning after.

10 Thoughts on Cloverfield

Caught this at Promenade w/ Des (and her kidney curing elixer, w/c smelled like used gym socks), who's here from Cotabato on vacation:

• Apparently there are no ugly people in Cloverfield. Even when they die from falling with a collapsing bridge or from a chopper, blown up by army missiles or explode due to an infected monster bite, they retain their good looks. (And not one Pinoy in that Manhattan party? Imposible!)
• As a MassCom student I've learned to appreciate proper stance and arm position when using a video camera. Granted that Hud, as the main video camera operator, was probably using one the size of a pocketbook (as opposed to the Harry Potter hardcover-sized models I used to have) and wasn't really an expert, but if I were him I woulda kept the steady-shot button on. And in real life vidcam jump cuts are not that noisy.
  
• Personal video cameras are lousy w/ night shots. Though it would've killed most of the suspense, I wish the monster attacked during lunchtime. Also wish the movie was as well-lit as their publicity photos.
• The eye-level view was part of this movie's charm. Comic-wise this was the equivalent of Marvels. You feel you're with them as they try to escape the shower of debris from the sky, racing down the subway tunnels to avoid the monster (or getting hit by bullets) or wondering how the hell that one chick ran around in a panic while in high heels.
  
• Only recognized one person in the whole cast: Lizzy Caplan, who played the tomboyish Kat Warbler in the canceled sitcom The Class. It's that obscure. Guess that's party how they kept the film budget at 25 mil. No big names. Just big CGI monsters.
• Monster movie equations: Lots of people moving slowly + suspension bridge = Death. Also, 4 people + 1 darkened tunnel = Death. Finally, couple waiting under a bridge - inability to get the hell outta there + army carpetbombing the city = Death.
• Possibly the freakiest (i.e. best) scene was in the subway tunnel the moment Hud switched the camera to "night mode" and we saw the Cloverfield Monster's spawn crawling on the ceiling. The more talkative audience member gasped then shut up after that. Second freakiest goes to the full-on encounter w/ the monster in the climax, w/c gave me some Jurassic Park flashbacks.
  
• Suspension of disbelief was tested not w/ the monster seemingly going around Manhattan in circle, but w/ the army guy letting the main cast (those still alive, at least) go back into the city to rescue a girlfriend. This was so the plot would move forward, I know, but the dude should have at least given them a weapon.
• Yeah, Mr. Helicopter Pilot, instead of flying us to safety, hover over the disaster area while I try to get a good shot of those planes blowing up the monster. What could possibly go wrong?
• This movie is best seen in the theater for the full visually visceral experience. (Probably better on IMAX, but would worsen the inevitable motion sickness.) Kudos to director Matt Reeves and writer Drew Goddard, and sorry that producer JJ Abram's name seemingly overshadowed your hard work in the marketing of this film.

(Pole) Dance Fever

Watched Sweeney Todd and and had dinner (sorta) w/ my new friend Cathy Yao last Saturday. The latter was all-too-brief because I had a prior commitment to catch other friend Mirell's performance at Teatrino, where mutual friend Lola was waiting in line for tickets. All I knew was Mirell did modern dance, and that a steel pole was involved. Ah, favors for friends...

Security was lax, promo items for sale (like the calendar) were shoddily produced and food was so-so, but none of that took away from the excellence in Mirell's performance. I found the choice of some of the songs odd (or too literal, like having dancers dressed in black for Black Magic Woman) and male dancers distracting (one guy was doing John Rambo by way of John Travola in Staying Alive), but again, Lola and I were here for Mirell, and she did not disappoint. Lola said Mirell hates performing the more "provocative" dance numbers, w/c I found ironic she was in almost all of them. A particular favorite was the schoolgirl number danced to a remake of Yakap Sa Dilim. Brief and amusing intermissions came in the form of stagehands who quickly climbed the poles w/ rags in hand to wipe them down. They're like the pole dancing equivalent of the guys who wipe the sweat off the basketball courts during playtime.

The center pole --which was bolted from floor to ceiling, but still wobbled-- took the most punishment, from the belly dancers that dry-humped it to the sexy heifers (pronounced HEH-fer) that climbed it like a rope ladder hanging from a helicopter. I then realized why pole most dancers had thick thighs: all that cellulite is needed to get a better grip on the pole when they attempt their Cirque du Soleil-like balancing acts on it. Mirell was again the exception, as her "hams" were fitter than Vina Morales' abs. Still, I think none of them escaped any bruising to their inner thighs, w/c would probably make those guys from Law&Order: SVU cringe if interpreted the wrong way.

After the show we had a nightcap at Starbucks, where Mirell showed us her slightly blackened palms. Dirty Dancing, indeed.

RIP, Patrick Verona Cassanova Joker

I was startled and audibly gasped this morning when I saw CNN.com's headline about Heath Ledger's passing. Selfishly my thoughts wandered to hoping he finished filming his parts as the Joker in The Dark Knight.

Speaking of which, some people on the 'Net were commenting on how Heath's Joker look resembled that of Brandon Lee's in The Crow, i.e. pasty white w/ dark circles painted around his eyes. Lee died while filming Crow. Guess they can go compare notes now. Sigh.

Well, if celebrity deaths do come in 3's, Heath would be the second of his age range (Brad Renfro's the first at 25, Heath at 28).

10 Thoughts on Ace Water Spa (Not the Movie)

Hmm, plastic foliage...

Went with my brother, sis-in-law and all nephews and nieces to kill the late-afternoon-to-early-evening hours. My first Philippine spa visit. Ever, be it wet or dry.

1. While they make you leave whatever footwear you came in (even slippers) at the front desk of the locker, the facilities aren't bad. Showers use liquid instead of regular bath soap, w/c sucks since they don't provide loofahs for them.
2. Ah, swimcaps: the great equalizer for balding men using the pool.
3. We started at the Lazy River, where a semi-strong current drags your lazy ass around the water spa's perimeter (provided you're using their styro-board or inner tube), encountering both misty and hard showers along the way.
4. While the Cold Water Pool lived up to its name, I really wanted to try out their Hot Herbal Pools (Say that w/ a Cockney accent; it's really funny. Awt erbal puhls, guvnah?). Set in 3 different colors and temperature settings, it felt like I was dipping myself in large pools of tea. At the edge of the pools were "cold pillows:" stainless steel pipes generating cold for you to rest on head on while you concentrate on not farting underwater.
5. The sauna and steam rooms still haven't differed from the first time I tried them in JiuZhaiGou, namely, why folks in Finland like the feeling of being steam-cooked is beyond me.
6. Other water facilities felt like amusement park gimmicks, like the eight nozzle shower or the dunk-yourself-w/-a-wooden-bucket area. I noticed the latter had a float ball in the bucket, like the ones you see in toilet tanks, w/c made this imagery slightly disturbing.
   
7. My favorite water massage came from Rainfall Acupuncture. Lying on my stomach while being bombarded w/ high pressure water, I couldn't even lift my legs. Too bad I also couldn't fully rest my head down, since I might drown in inch-deep chlorinated water.
8. The other jet massages weren't as pleasant, since it felt like most of them were trying to force water up my butt. Hmm, they oughtta hand out nose/ear/butt plugs before getting into those pools.
9. On the other hand, the bubble massages were a pleasant experience, just pushing up your butt instead of performing an unwanted enema. It got so foamy at times I thought someone mixed liquid detergent in the pool.
10. They gave us coupons for free soup afterwards, but they ran out of corn and served us Nido soup, instead. Wonder how many packets of Knorr Chinese soup mix they go through in a day?

First Coffee, Last Meet

Eileen and I managed to arrange a lunch date at Banana Leaf Greenbelt 3 w/ Carol (and Lorenzo) last Friday before they flew back to Spain the next day. Maple managed to join us after we ordered the appetizers. I took care of the bill, for w/c I was repaid by first taste of Gelato --courtesy of Eileen-- (hundred bucks a scoop for something ice...creamier) and Morrocan Mint Latte from Carol. I joined the newlyweds for Carol's meet w/ Zharina (my co-candle partner at her wedding) for cups of tea latte and espresso.

Part of me wishes I could just cough up the cash and fly to Barcelona to visit them (scratch that; i could, but won't, being a cheapskate), but I'm just intimidated enough planning local trips, like when I flew to Iloilo to visit the Rafael Brothers.

Aside from Spain, technically I also have friends I could visit in The US, Canada, Germany, Italy, London, China, South Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Australia, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Russia and France. That's a lotta frequent flier miles I gotta rack up. I also think there's some unspoken rule about trips to other continents having to last no less than 10-14 days para sulit, w/c I find odd. To justify spending all that cash for plane tickets and/or a visa you have to stay long, w/c would probably mean spending even more cash (be if for shopping/ sightseeing/ lodging) to enjoy yourself.

So until the day plane tickets are priced like bus tickets (or I develop the powers of flight and GPS), vacations will be few and far in between.

Dreamstuff

Two dreams to discuss, one I had the week earlier, the other just this morning.

• Ate bad taho, the kind I saw on the news as a kid, where unscrupulous taho-makers mixed plaster of paris in the vat, probably to keep it from breaking down faster. In my dream I noticed that in my cup the syrup settled on top instead of mixing in w/ the taho, like oil on top of water.
  

• Beat the holy heck out of a guy who bullied (ok, more like harassed) me in high school. In reality I just let him do what he wanted, for fear that if we ever did fight I would have seriously injured him. That came true in this dream. Granted my moves where purely in self-defense, where either I shoved him into a wall when he charged, or Kung Fu'd his ass after his own punches missed. I should've guessed it was a dream when instead of an adrenaline rush I felt calm while delivering the blows. Guess that's why they call it revenge fantasy.
  

WYIR (Wam's Year In Review)

Am doing this while waiting for Sis and her family to show up for lunch. Hope they hurry. Salmon's drying up.

(Does it count as peer pressure if your peers are doing it, but didn't pressure you to do it, but you do it anyway?)

Jan. - Seems I've only achieved one of my goals from the 12 Thoughts of Xmas, that being my purchase of the Futurama DVDs. (at half off, mind you.)

Feb. - Lost my digital pix due to PC crashing. Goodbye, Irene-in-lingerie.

Mar. - Movies, shopping and buffet.

Apr. - From my day as family driver to vacationing in Iloilo, definite worst-and-best day categorized.

May - Movie month, apparently. Then again I might've watched more flicks in December, but just didn't blog about it.

Jun. - More movies. Boit's wedding. Met up w/ friends new and old.

Jul. - Transformers. Dada's wedding in Cebu. Blogging by recap.

Aug. - Geneva came. And went just as quickly. Oh, and she's FINE.

Sept. - Book fair w/ Goldy. Avenue Q w/ Cheryl. Cemex cocktail party w/ Rona. Got new cordless earphones.

Oct. - Rodenticide. Cesca and CineEuropa. ChengDu and JiuZhaiGou (and XiaMen).

Nov. - Talked about ChengDu and JiuZhaiGou (and XiaMen).

Dec. - Phonecard scam. Blind date. Best friends from abroad come home to roost, if not to nest. (Yeah, I didn't know where that metaphor was going, either.

I just realized outlining my year like this makes my life seem more mundane (if not uneventful) as ever. More reviews needed, perhaps...? A love life? Dirty limericks?

I Now Pronounce You Enzo and Geraldine (UPDATED AGAIN)

Just got back from a whole afternoon-to-late-evening wedding affair. My dear hud-buddy (private joke) Carol (Geraldine) Chua got hitched at Mary The Queen w/ her hubby (they married civilly in Spain) Lorenzo Pons.

It was great seeing old faces and friends, like Abi, Kenneth, Wilma and Junius (Carol's 2nd cousin, apparently), while meeting new ones like my candle partner Zharina Arnaldo (journalist based in the UK) and Edgie Co (molecular biologist working w/ the US military). While Jen barely made to the ceremony Melody missed her turn at doing the second reading (or responsorial psalm), w/c caught Eileen (who was doing the commentary) off guard, so she ended up doing it. For my my part you'd think lighting a candle would be a breeze, but at the second lighting (this time for the "unity candle) it was a literal breeze that kept killing the fire from my matchsticks. In the end Zhar and I just used the candles she lit earlier.

The rest of the day was spent at EDSA Shangri La hotel, where we hung around the newlywed's room, eating cheeseburgers and KFC sandwiches (courtesy of Carol's dad). I also couldn't stop looking at their makeup artist, as her resemblance to a friend of mine was uncannily eerie, right down to stylish color-coordinated glasses. And w/ her looks I'm surprised she isn't doing some modeling herself, instead of making them up. But I digress.

This is why I prefer going to friend's weddings, as opposed to any of my relatives. * Lots more people to see and talk to, and enjoying myself while doing so. When I wasn't comparing dental work w/ Kenneth I was talking comics w/ Junius. And I got a nice bunch of "conjoined headshots." It also wasn't just a random selection of single guys blowing a balloon or single girls going wild over tossed roses (w/ Junius and Melody the respective "winners" of those games). This was fun stuff. Hell, some of us even managed to score an extra bottle of wine Lorenzo brought from Spain! Makes up for the 180 bucks(!) the hotel charged me for parking, despite the 6 hour validation stub.

Click here to see the rest of the wedding pictures, or if you'd prefer the video version:


*ON THE OTHER HAND... The next day I went to EDSA Shang again for another wedding , this time for my friend Hentjie, former DLSU class and thesis-mate. The wedding and reception were staged at the Isla ballrooms 2 and 3, side by side. Turns out it's in Protestant weddings where the priest asks the "if anyone objects to this marriage speak now blah blah" bit. It was also odd seeing the couple walk down the aisle, be greeted by photographers, and not leave in the wedding car. I waited for one of the TV production people documenting the affair to yell "CUT!" (One of the perks of working in a post-production house), but instead the newlyweds chatted w/ guests while they signed in at the registry table.

At the "Jie's Close Friends 3" table I was the only one in attendance, so they filled it up w/ Hentjie's former co-workers, instead. Most of them were language teachers, who cringed every time emcee Kimberly Tan improvised and subsequently butchered her English ("Stand at the back of your wife!") And they weren't big fans at the somewhat "R-Rated" themes of the palour games. The menu was 90% what I had last night, sans mango sago and Spanish wine. Yep, I bored.

So let me amend my earlier statement: it's not whether I prefer to attend a friend or relatives' wedding, just that I'd better have someone I to enjoy talking to at my table.

Half-Blind Date

(For a partial account of this evening's events, check out Chinachix. Unlike hers, names have not been concealed nor charged, coz' in da grand scheme of things ain't none of us innocent.)

I picked up Harriet at her sister's place in New Manila before we headed for San Juan to pick up her cousin Michelle. I recently gave the former the go-ahead to set me up w/ the latter on a date. Traffic was worse than usual, but luckily Michelle's knowledge of the inner roads around Greenhills got us out of the worst of it. We had dinner at Arya and a nightcap at CB&TL, where I ran into Darwin and his friends.

The date itself went along smoothly enough. As a sporty CSB culinary arts student (and former barista in Canada), Michelle shares my interest in cooking and keeping fit (and perhaps frappuccinos). Her love of team sports is comparable to my love of comics, but that's where the similarity ends (not counting this). We're not gonna be picking out china patterns any time soon, but I'm open for a 2nd meet if she is.

The nightcap probably went on a bit long, as Michelle and I inadvertently tested the limits of talking about "anything and everything," while Harriet 'N' Friends had a roundtable discussion about Tsinoys in Toronto. (Kidding, dear.) I interpreted (too late) Michelle's constant checking of her cellphone as a sign that I should've mentioned that it was time to wrap it up, because next thing I knew it was past 1 in the morning.

Should probably quit while I'm ahead, as Harriet would correctly surmise that I'm over-analyzing the whole thing.