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Showing posts from November, 2004
This is the time of year when I take another hiatus from writing in the ol' bloggie. I shall resume the semi-regular unveiling of this loveless, jobless, penniless life come 2005, unless something worth anyone's attention comes up. Not that beauty contest trivia is ever worth anyone's attention, mind you. Just goes to show how low this side of the net can go. 2004 wasn't such a bad year for me. I've won some and I've lost some. Went through the motions with songs in my head, starting from a throbbing Prodigy then segueing to a wailing Kate Bush before mellowing into the fuzziness of some dusty vinyl record scratched silly by adamantium claws. A real good year, yes. Could be better. But along with that, I know I've lots to be thankful for. I've been blessed and cursed. There're those who've shown me unconditional love and understanding, and those who've shown me conditional love and understanding. To the latter, I'll say "fuck y
Wanna know some more useless beauty pageant trivia? 1) The International Teen Princess pageant began in 1966. During its short nine-year run, three Philippine contestants had placed fourth overall. Iran had landed thrice in the top three, including its first place win in 1968. 3) Iran didn't seem too shabby in beauty pageants back then. In 1975, the Middle Eastern country won top plum in the Miss Teenage Intercontinental pageant. For over twenty five years has Iran ceased to crown a representative for world competition until recently. 3) Each year from 1985, the city of Machala in Ecuador has been hosting the World Queen of Banana beauty pageant. Yes, that's what it's called -- the World Queen of Banana . It was formerly the Banana Queen pageant when it started in the 60s and contestants came primarily from Ecuadorian cities. They have an average of 20 to 30 contestants every year.
Streep Show I just loooove Meryl Streep. Her versatility is uncanny, subdued yet intense in House of the Spirits , then bitch queen galore in Death Becomes Her . Then there's her average lesbian Jane portrayal in The Hours . Word has it that she might just get a supporting Oscar nom for her razor-sharp performance as a ruthless senator in The Manchurian Candidate . I wasn't able to see the tearjerker Bridges of Madison County , though. But my cousin was able to get me the Angels in America DVD, and I can only hope that it's the complete 6-hour extravaganza (about the length of the original two-part play). Madame Streep essays multiple roles here, and has added an Emmy feather to her Best Actress cap for doing so. There seems to be no clear Streep acting style. She appears to be a different person in each role. If I'm not mistaken, she'll also be in the upcoming A Series of Unfortunate Events , so I'll be catching that just because of her (apart from th
Slow But Sure I'm done with the first chapter of the Zsazsa Zaturnnah sa Maynila script, a little over 10% of the total length, and had let my cousin go through it. She giggled at some parts, which was encouraging. Not in others, though, so I hope to add more of the humor factor once I do the artwork. But the script flowed well, she said. I really really really have to finish the entire script by end-December if I'm ever going to make the late-2005 release. Once I'm done with the first two or three chapters, I'll pass them on to my editors for their input, and start drawing the single-panel pages first. In an ideal world, I should submit the entire script in one go for edits, but to do that might push the release schedule into early 2006. We don't want that. Total page count is around 230 to 250 pages, far longer than the first book. The progression is ideal - 56 pages for One Night In Purgatory , 143 pages for the first Zaturnnah book. A good test of endu
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The Sixth Month Now that it's the sixth month of gym-related sadism, I'm presenting the results below. In summary, the upper arms improved most, while the blasted bloody waist improved least despite over 120 crunches per session and reduced fat and sodium intake. (I was able to go as low as 31 inches in 2002 from a high of 37, but I did a helluva lot of cardio then.) But I'm very much content with the fact that the waist measurement fell as those of the other areas rose (save the hip area, which I attribute to fat loss), and I gained seven pounds in the process. I started working out at 145 pounds. I'm 152 now, with 8 more pounds to go before I reach my ideal weight. Average improvement is 2.7%. Not as high as I had hoped, but it's still enough for me to smile. I intend to improve by at least the same percentage by end-May 2005. Below are the detailed measurements, all in centimeters. (It's hard to be exact using inches.) Shoulders (measured
Was searching through my bag for a diskette, and found a couple of unused condoms. They were given to me by a friend, as he had a fresh supply from a sponsor of our magazine Icon . Like, the hell?! By the time I find the need to use the rubbery things, they would have expired and crumbled into powder.
Blind Item There's this bit of news that's slowly going around lately. You may have heard of it by now... A has-been actress who's married to a rich businessman used to be a member of the fitness center in the RCBC building along Gil Puyat avenue. She'd go there to work out almost everyday, arriving at the building at a low-traffic hour so she could claim an elevator for herself and her bodyguards. She apparently hates it when other people are wih her. Anyway, it was one of those low-traffic days when she steps into an elevator, content that she'll have it for her own. Just before the doors close, an elderly woman joins her. Miffed, actress blurts out, "Guard, please tell this old woman to get out of my elevator." Elderly woman says in response. "Guard, please tell this woman to get out of my building." Si Yuchengco pala. Has-been actress was consequently banned from entering the building.
Gamefrog I'm typing this up at Gamefrog , the newest internet/gaming cafe this side of Ortigas Center, located at the swanky MetroWalk arcade. It's spacious and airy, and everything's got that new car (and paint) smell. Upon entering the smoking area, most of the terminals were occupied by hardcore gamers, among them my friend and fellow ROUGHer Tommy Lim. (ROUGH is the gaming group I was a part of in La Salle.) The guy from the front desk showed me how to work the special log-on interface. Before I knew it, I became an official member of the place. Anyway, I have yet to go around the establishment. The "free-hour" membership card Vin gave me said that Gamefrog had world-class board games. But by the way tonight's going, this place seems to be more like an online gamers' joint.
CG Magic I've said before that Spiderman 2 was the superhero flick to beat, and it has been beaten in my book by The Incredibles , Pixar's latest release that once again pushes the possibilities of CG animation further. As Pixar's first PG-rated film, The Incredibles features a solid story that is as engaging as the eye candy. The script is a delight to listen to, the character acting is top-notch, and the visuals are awe-inspiring. You don't have to be a superhero fan to love this film. It has snatched over $70 million on its first weekend run in the US , and most critics have given it their thumbs up. Seeing it with the gang last Saturday night made me feel like a kid again. What I really liked about the movie (semi-spoilers): 1. Elasti-Girl gives new spin to the stretching power, actually making it cool instead of generally boring. 2. The scenes with Edna Mode. I love her scaly-sleeved jacket. 3. Bomb Voyage. 4. The wonderfully choreographed figh
Pilosopo This morning, my cousin and I discussed Nietzsche, that German philosopher who had a brilliant run with his existentialist writings but eventually went insane and died single. It was only when cousin showed me her copy of The Complete Nietzsche that I found out that he was the one who wrote Thus Spoke Zarathustra . That would make a nice name for a daughter - Zarathustra. A name befitting a world conquering bitch. And she won't be using her surname. It'll be just Zarathustra, or Zara for short. I can see the news reports now: "In the Philippines, the world leaders were welcomed by President Zarathustra to the APEC summit in Cebu." And she'd cap off every SONA with, what else?... "Mabuhay ang bansang Piilipinas. Thus spoke Zarathustra." Ang ganda, 'di ba? But I digress. If Nietzsche were living in the modern world, he'd be a voracious blogger, as a good amount of his writings in the collection reads like blog entries. If
Signs I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes I saw the sign No one's gonna drag you up to get into the light where you belong I've been asking for signs on a semi-regular basis. Signs to give me an idea of how to go about my life over a period, or signs that help me in my decision-making. Some of the signs have been so blatant, they're freaky, but most have been ambiguous. But generally, they've done me a lot of good. I live my life unmindful of a specific path. I just walk and walk, with the wind and heart as my map. While I plan a whole lot, to the point of constructing complex diagrams when I feel like it, my Aquarian soul can be unpredictable even to myself. So when I get tired from all the walking, I take a moment to ask the wind and my heart where I should go next. That's when I ask for signs. Recently, the signs I've asked for have been giving mixed messages, which to a degree defeats the entire purpose of what signs are for. When the
A few nights back, I caught a round-table discussion/debate on the telly. It was organized by the Harvard School of Government and aired on BBC. The panel was composed of high-profile names in the American and European political arena, and the topic centered on that in-vogue concern - the US Elections and the future of America as a world leader. Most of those in the panel agree that George Bush has been failing miserably in his handling of foreign policy issues. They lament how the relationships built by the US with other countries has deteriorated, especially with those in the Middle East. As one panelist said, the US needs friends and leaders need followers. (I usually watch these shows knowing I'd get depressed, but I can't settle with "ignorance is bliss" in this case.) There are those who find Bush's firm stance on his war on terrorism a self-serving crusade, with the overstaying of troops in Iraq a pointless exercise, but there are also those who se
Sunday Gatherings Woke up at five in the afternoon Sunday, and started my day with my usual caffeine and nicotine fix. This reverse body clock is getting to be too much of a habit. If I could afford to, I should relocate to the West. First up was going to Marikina for the birthday party of my friend Serge's dad. Also there was Manny, my Hare Krishna pal. Serge and Manny are part of my high school barkada. Slicing Eyeballs Serge recently underwent corrective eye surgery, that mondo expensive procedure (around Php50,000, including doctor's fees) where they bombard your eyeballs with lasers. Serge described in detail the 20-minute procedure, where they mechanically hold your eyelids open, mark your eyeballs with a pen, and laterally slice the outer layer (the cornea, I think) like a bread bowl. After the laser assault, the outer layer gets folded back and held in place by a contact lens. At first, eyesight was hazy, like that of being underwater. But Serge noted that