Sunday, June 13, 2004Goodbye, Summer of '04 So many things have happened since the last time I posted. That's probably why I haven’t been posting. I just don’t know where to start. Well, I have decided to close this blog. With only 1 sweet day until the end of summer, I’ll have to make a fitting end to this. So here it goes: The Summer of ’04 is supposedly one of the longest summers we’ve ever had. Almost three months long, this summer gave many families a chance to tour abroad and fly off to the country’s (consequently the world’s) best beaches. Though I didn’t get to, the Summer of ’04 shall remain as one of the best summers I’ve ever had. Maybe it’s because all summers are great, but somehow, this summer was so good, it ended up being too short. This summer saw many winners and losers. This was a summer of elections and competitions. Arroyo won over Poe. Barrino won over DeGarmo. Hugh Jackman won a Tony, and I won a bronze for archery. This was a summer of season and series finales. We said goodbye to Frasier and the Central Perk gang, while new Idol Fantasia won with a bang. The summer’s hottest flicks were not of the usual types. We had The Passion of the Christ, Troy, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and Shrek 2 making the Summer of ’04 all the more memorable. It was a summer of lessons. From archery to UPCAT review classes, I learnt and learnt until I could learn no more. For the first and last time in my life, I was able to experience SCB-A summer training. It was a summer of royal weddings. The Crown Princes of Denmark, Spain, and Jordan each brought home a bride, a future queen for their nations. The Summer of '04 gave birth to many new things (like my new love for reggae), but it also marked the passing of greats like Nick Joaquin, Ronald Reagan, and Ray Charles. That’s how I’ll remember The Summer of ’04. So much for my last entry. Ad astra per aspera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 00:30 -------------------- Saturday, May 15, 2004Koy is my Idol! I have so many things to write about. I have my “topics” piled up in my memory, which is bad because my mind has limited space. Now, I don't remember the other stuff I want to say. …but on to what I remember. As we all know, Friends ended its ten-year run last May 6 with a predictable but otherwise apt series finale. I haven’t watched it yet because no one is sharing it KazAa. What I do know though is that the birth mother gave birth to twins for Chandler and Monica, Little Yasmine and the duck made a final appearance, Ross ends up with Rachel, and the final scene involves the keys to their apartments. The finale seemed to be a disappointment to many. It ranks only fourth in the all-time list of series finale ratings. It's behind the historical series finales of M*A*S*H, Cheers, and Seinfeld. In fact, it is only the second highest-rated episode in the show's history, the highest being a 1996 post-Super Bowl episode. A lot of people wanted a less predictable ending, and Ross ending up with Rachel, although favorable, was definitely expected. I haven’t watched it, but I’d have to say the twins added some surprise to the much-guarded ending. I guess the writers decided to be safe this time, as opposed to the Thanksgiving episode--which remains as one of the best episodes despite the fact that it created too much inconsistencies--and St. Elsewhere’s infamous finale, which disappointed some fans when they realized that the whole show was just a figment of an autistic child’s imagination. Nevertheless, “The Last One” was a fitting, bittersweet end to Friends. As Olivia said after watching it, “It’s over.” Thank goodness for American Idol. Idol fever is at its peak in the World According to Ana. There is no use dwelling on the sad departure of George Huff because the issue now is the controversial vote-off of much-favored La Toya London, with Fantasia ending second-lowest. This is as bad as when the Three Divas ended in the bottom 3 the night Jennifer Hudson was voted off. I was so sure that La Toya would make, at least, the Top Two. Then again, I thought George Huff would win. Baffling as it may seem, there is a fairly simple explanation for this phenomenon. I was so sure that Jasmine would leave this week, but I obviously underestimated the Hawaiian-Filipino voting public. The reason why Jasmine is still in and La Toya out is that Jasmine has the majority of the Hawaiian Islands and the residents of Milpitas, Daly City, New Jersey, and Rancho Cucamonga (which ironically is where Matt Rogers is from) voting for her. While other fans are divided between La Toya and Fantasia, Jasmine fans are solidly behind her, with the addition of some Camileons. Not that I don’t like Jasmine. I like her, and I might have even voted for her. I like La Toya and Fantasia, too. These people reached the Top 4 because they are extremely talented (even Diana DeGarmo, who, if you haven’t noticed, looks like Priscilla Almeda). For me, the issue isn’t the fact that La Toya didn’t deserve to go. Reaching the Top 12 means that you’re generally more talented than the average artist in today’s music industry, and no one at this point deserves to go. The issue here is the fact that Jasmine’s morale must be so battered by now. The real person to pity here is Jasmine, not La Toya. La Toya has no problem. She and Fantasia don't need a show like this to make it into the business. She is guaranteed by her talent alone to be in the music industry for a long time. What I am afraid of happening is that people might perceive Jasmine as some sort of villain; someone who unfairly stole La Toya’s place in the Top 3. I just wish that people would realize that anyone can win the competition at a time like this, and it’s always a tragedy when one of them gets voted off. Speaking of Camileons, I have searched far and wide for a Rasta wristband. I haven’t checked Dilimall yet, but I’m betting that if they do sell Rasta wristbands there, they’ve been bought already. I already told Patty to look for one for me since she goes to the mall a lot, and she’s going to Bangkok this week. I made my own search, and as I gave up looking for one, I sat down on a bench to rest. Suddenly, a knitted sling bag caught my attention. I’ll knit one!, I thought. This has proven to be one of the most brilliant ideas I’ve ever had. For once in my life (just like the song), Mrs. Nunez’s home economics class has proven useful. Now, I am a proud owner of a Rasta wristband. I feel bad for this Pinay in IdolForums who was also in search of a Rasta wristband. According to her, she went to 5 malls ending up with nothing. She ended up having hers shipped from London by a friend. Ha! I knitted mine! It means more to me now because I have this thing for valuing stuff that I have made myself; sort of like labors-of-love. This is perfect because the red, yellow, and green colors represent Peace, Happiness, and Unity. Rastafarianism, by the way, is a religious Jamaican movement which claimed Emperor Haile Selassie as the Messiah and the Blacks as the chosen people. My parents bought me six additional arrows this week. I need them for the tournament this week. They taught me how to score yesterday. I’m scared. I went to another LOOP meeting today, armed with hair gel and my new wristband. This time, I tagged Gia and Luday along. Gia is the Asst. Secretary. SCB-A veterans have told me to bond with the Asst. Secretary because we'll be working together a lot. Now I know that is going to be so fun and so easy to do. We got along so well. As it turns out, we have so many similarities. For one thing, we were both wearing red Converse Chucks. She happened to start playing archery this year, making her the only other person I know in school who plays it. She also happens to be a Camileon. She also tried making a Rasta wristband with bracelets, just like Camile’s. She was also kind enough to drop me off to Podium, where I met up with Olivia and Manna to watch Troy. Here's my review: Troy was one of this year's much-awaited movies. I was watching Entertainment Tonight before I left the house, and I saw what a splash this movie made in Cannes. With Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom cast as the leads, this movie was guaranteed a mostly-female audience. Surprisingly, for me at least, the actor who looked the most handsome was Eric Bana, who was last seen in The Hulk. Much like its visually-appealing leads, the movie is the sweeping epic that it is expected to be. Beautifully filmed, Troy is as cinematographically gorgeous as Pitt, Bloom, Bana, and "the face that launched a thousand ships." The acting is good. Pitt has proven in this movie that he can still act, although still an obvious far cry from the acting chops of veteran Peter O'Toole. There is one flaw in the movie though: it's too soap opera-ish. There was the constant zooming into their faces, and the smell-of-fart acting of Dr. Drake Remoray was all over the place. I could predict and mouth 80% of lines in the script...Ah! I see. Now I get it. The film is obviously an expensive clone of Marcala Productions, Ltd.'s epic William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar! It's a imitation, right down to the resonating drums and cast. The Marcala tradition of good-looking actors and soap opera acting was evident in the film. No wonder Jerry Bruckheimer is releasing another Marcala clone: King Arthur. Let's all wait and see if this will be as good as MPL's King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Have you tried Yahoo! Messenger 5.6? It's amazing! It has new features, like avatars, audibles, and most importantly, LAUNCHcast radio! This will revolutionize the music industry. You can tune into radio stations, ranging from the different genres to the different decades. You can even customize it and make your own station. You pick the artists you like, and it'll play the artists' songs and other similar songs. You rate the songs, and the more you rate, the smarter it gets. Eventually, it will play all the type songs you love. Ad astra per aspera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 23:16 -------------------- Wednesday, May 05, 2004Karma Camileon I am now an official Camileon. Yes, a Camileon. No, I did not misspell that. That is what we call Camile Velasco fans. For those uninformed, Camile Velasco was one of the contestants in this season’s American Idol. The show has indeed gotten so big, and it’s now being shown in the Philippines…well, it’s been shown here for quite a while already, I just didn’t have Star World then; however, I have been tracking the show since Kelly Clarkson won over Justin Guarini, so I’m not really new to this, and now that I have the show in ABC5 every weekday, I no longer have to keep track through the internet. Anyway, Camile is one of the two Top 12 finalists who are of Filipino ancestry. The other one is Jasmine Trias. Both of them live in Hawaii. As I always said, if you live in Hawaii, unless you are pure Hawaiian, you’re either Japanese or Filipino. Camile, who finished Top 9 in the contest, is a quarter Irish, a quarter Spanish, and half Filipina. Her father is stationed in Japan because he's a USN sailor. A quarter IRISH...daughter of a SAILOR...No wonder she's my idol! (These aren’t accurate, so I may be wrong). She was born here in the Philippines and lived in Makati. They left for Hawaii in 1987, which is weird because after the new hope brought about by the 1986 EDSA People Power Revolution, Filipinos just didn’t leave the country. A lot of expatriates even came back. That’s why I’m Filipino and not Australian. More on that later. What’s good about Camile is that she doesn’t really hide the fact that she’s part Filipina, vis-à-vis Jasmine, who is quite reluctant to reveal it. Albeit she did mention it once, she’s more of Hawaiian now. (Hahaha! I learnt 2 news words this week: albeit and vis-à-vis…tell me if I’m using them right.) Don’t get me wrong! I like Jasmine, too. Honestly, she’s more of a professional singer than Camile, but I really like Camile’s voice. I have a thing for her raspy, paos style and tone. Camile inherited from the Filipino culture and race the beauty, talent, and low self-esteem that are distinctly Pinoy. She can sing, she plays the piano, and, as someone said, “looks good in a bikini,” but she’s too scared and nervous, like most Filipinos. Hey! I know I have no right to say these things because I am, after all, the Original Stage-Fright Kid, but Simon Cowell, in a rare stroke of brilliance, was right in predicting that her nerves are going to get her out of the game…Okay, Simon is not always wrong, but the fact that he favors John Stevens is beyond me. Nevertheless, I am a new Camileon, and I will be one for a while. I’m even planning to buy a Rasta wristband just like Camile’s. Another interesting joincidence: Camileon is pronounced like chameleon, and in the Culture Club’s 1984 hit “Karma Chameleon,” the lyrics go something like “Karma-karma-karma Chameeeleeooon/Red, gold, and greeeen/Red, gold, and greee-eeen…” Aren’t the Rasta wristband colors red, gold, and green? ***************** And now, the countdown has finally come to an end. I didn't even realize it. It was just impeccable and bittersweet timing that I decided to blog today. Tomorrow is the series finale, and I picked a quote relating to the aforementioned joincidence. It's not quite fitting, but before Central Perk sells it's last latte, here's our last Friends quote: Phoebe: You guys, you know what I just realized? 'Joker' is 'poker' with a 'J.' Coincidence? Chandler: Hey, that's... that's 'joincidence' with a 'C'! I'll be there for you When the rain starts to pour I'll be there for you Like I've been there before I'll be there for you Since you're there for me too ***************** Ad astra per aspera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 21:21 I finally have my own bow! Yay! They felt sorry for me so they collected bow parts and assembled them for me to use. The handle is purple, which they cleverly matched with my red-purple archery motif. The limbs are Hoyt, which I should be proud of, and I can now say that I am competing this May. Because of this, I am now shooting as far as 30 meters! With the help and instruction of Philippine Team players, I just might survive this. Last Saturday, different schools decided on having some sort of fusion of student councils. They invited student council members from the proposed member schools. By some strange turn of events, I ended up being part of that. Ms. President is in the United States, and Ms. Vice-President is also out. So who is left? Alcala, you're going out there a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star! Okay, so I was supposed to be with Meg, the Treasurer, but she wasn’t informed on the details of the meeting. She couldn’t make it. At that point, I wasn’t so sure if I could make it either—make it out alive, that is. As it turns out, my schoolmate Mara formed this with her AJSS friends. The Ateneo Juniors Summer Seminar is what Jess is up to right now. That is also why I can’t just insult Ateneo lest I lose Jess as a best friend. This fusion of student councils is called Loop. The member schools are Assumption, Ateneo, La Salle, Miriam, Northridge, Poveda, St. Paul, and Xavier. Sadly, ICA couldn’t join…something to do with their moderator. Well, it was a wonderful experience. For one thing, I realized once again how new I am to this. I feel like Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, only I lack idealism and creativity. I have so much to learn from these people. One of them even had an itinerary folder! I’m like Ana Newbie. Ha! I did make it out alive though. ******************** Monica: Passport, check! Camera, check! Traveller’s cheques, check! Rachel: Who are you saying "check" too? Monica: Myself. Y’know for remembering to pack a thing. Yeah, you do a good thing, you get a check! (pause) My mom does it, I never realized it was weird. Phoebe: Yeah, my mom used to put her head in the oven. Well, actually, she only did it the one time. But it was pretty weird. Ross: (entering) Hey! Monica: Hey! Ross: Hey! Are you ready yet? Monica: Yep! You got the tickets? Ross: Oh! Got ‘em right here, (Pats his coat pocket) check! ******************** Ad astra per pera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 21:20 Last April 29 was my sister's and Erika Uy's birthday. The following day was Dudu's birthday. That same day, Nick Joaquin passed away. It would be unnecessary to write about how sad we all are and how great a man he was. Everyone knows that. Plus, I don’t have enough creative juices to write a decent eulogy. Of course, when I read about it the papers, it was April 30: the eve of May Day...Oh-sweet-mother-of-Abraham-Lincoln! That’s May Day Eve! It's as if the genius planned his death! Well, what else can we expect from this man? There will be no other. Goodbye, Mr. Joaquin. ******************** Rachel: What?! Joey got a turkey stuck on his head?! Joey: Hey, it's not like it sounds. Chandler: It's exactly like it sounds ******************** Ad astra per aspera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 21:19 Once in a while, the Hallmark Channel airs movies I just have to watch. Their made for TV movies and biopics are actually interesting once you get the patience needed to sit down and watch them. I remember July last year, we were taking up Arthurian legends in class, and our teacher wanted us to watch some movie called Merlin. The moment I heard the title, I knew that the movie never made much money. It starred Sam Neill, Martin Short, Miranda Richardson, Helena Bonham Carter, and Isabella Rossellini. For a movie with a cast like that, it’s either a big hit or a big flop. I was betting on the latter… …not after Ana discovered it in Hallmark! No one knew where to find a copy of that movie, so I wasn’t that worried when I knew that I wouldn’t get to watch it. One Saturday afternoon, I was channel surfing when, suddenly, I saw a long-haired Sam Neill in a Hallmark movie commercial. Hmm, I wonder what movie this is. Hey! Isn’t that Martin Short? That’s Helena Bonham Carter…wait a minute…It’s Merlin! The following Monday, I spread the word to the whole batch that Merlin was on in Hallmark. Of course, all I needed was to tell just one person and the news would spread like wildfire on its own, and in a matter of hours, our teacher made the official announcement, sans the “I’d like to thank Ana, our resident couch potato…” part. Yes, my friends, I was the reason why you got to watch that movie in Hallmark. I was the reason why for two whole nights, the Hallmark Channel probably had its highest-ever viewer rating! Because of me, the Hallmark Channel was guaranteed at least 130 or so viewers. However, there’s also one movie that Hallmark keeps on airing, and I’m very happy it does, which I always watch. The movie is King of the Hill. No, it’s not the cartoon. It’s a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh. Whenever I catch the movie, I always finish it. Everything about it is superb. As usual, Soderbergh’s directing is excellent, the cinematography heavy on the magentas. Somehow, watching this depression-era movie makes you feel as hot and sweaty as the characters onscreen. The actors are amazing. Jesse Bradford may no longer be having roles as challenging as this, but at least he will always have this movie to prove that he's more than just a pretty face. At the age of 14, Bradford was able to handle the role so well and so realistically. It's one of the best acting I've ever seen. A little trivia here: the role of Lester is played by a very buff Adrien Brody, and the role of Mr. Erich Kurlander is played by Jeroen Krabbe, who played Armani-clad Satan in that Jesus movie we watched during our 2nd year retreat. ******************** Joey: Man, it must be so cool remembering stuff like that! I don't have any past life memories. Phoebe: Of course you don't sweetie. You're brand new. ******************** Ad astra per aspera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 21:08 -------------------- Thursday, April 22, 2004It's A Small World After All! I went to Dilimall the other day. It’s that place in UP where you can buy almost anything. I don’t think there ever was a time when I went there looking something which I didn’t eventually find. If you go there, though, looking for a sign that says “Dilimall,” chances are you won’t find it. That is if you haven’t been there before. You might end up circling the whole UP campus, which will take quite a while. My father says, “It never really had name. We just called it Dilimall.” What’s odd here is not its name but the fact that it doesn’t have a name; however, the price tags on items I buy from Miranda school supplies shop say that it’s actually called UP Shopping Center… …Anyway, I was supposed to go to Books-For-Less, but the traffic along Commonwealth discouraged us to do so. We ended up in Dilimall. We first went to Booksale, but I didn’t really find anything (except an SAT Math review book). I decided to go to this other shop. They sell, among other things, boa constrictor shoelaces; hiking sandals; posters of The Beatles, Bob Marley, Lenin, and Van Gogh; hippie stuff; pins/buttons; and of course, books. What can I say? Sometimes, people just run into stores they can call their home. I always knew they sold good second hand titles there. I have the strangest feeling that the owner of this shop buys these books from other second hand bookstores. The owner sort of pre-selects or filters the books from these other bookstores, and since he/she took the effort of picking out the best titles for us, he/she doubles the price. Not that bad. The prices aren't second-hand prices, but I guess it's okay because, boy, are the titles good! They had The World According to Garp (several editions, including mine), Lord of the Flies, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, 1984, The Joy Luck Club, plays by Sophocles, Tennessee Williams, and William Shakespeare, a couple my favorite classics, and even everyone's favorite American novel: To Kill A Mockingbird, which happens to remain as Top 92 bestseller in Amazon.com. It doesn't end there. The collection is amazing. I never knew Garp's John Irving wrote The Cider House Rules, and they have that. I had such a hard time picking out which book to buy. Since I already read Angela's Ashes in PDF, I crossed that out. What I did was close my eyes and randomly point at a book. That didn't actually work, but I eventually left the store with Gabriel Garcia Marquez's Chronicle of a Death Foretold. I remember Mickey sharing this book last year in Literature class. In 1982, Marquez (the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude) won the Nobel Prize for Literature. It was during that same year when Chronicle was released. A review from Amazon.com says that, although Solitude made him famous and may arguably be his best work, Chronicle is still the book that won him the Nobel. Another funny anecdote: I was watching the now defunct game show Game K N B? hosted by the not-so-defunct Kris Aquino. She was reading out the next question, which went something like this: "Sino ang co-star ni Diego Luna sa pelikulang Y Tu Mama Tambien? A. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, B. Gael Garcia Bernal, or C. Benicio del Torro..." Of course, I got the question right! Ahaha! That's because Marga/Trent Lloyd/St. Bernard has this huge crush on Gael, which is funny now that I think about it because not only did Mickey share Marquez's book in class but Manna, who plays Trent Lloyd's boss and idol Dr. Drake Remoray, M.D., is Manna MARQUEZ. The following day, I made a fortunate discovery. I was sitting in the classroom during lunch break (review classes). I sat on someone else's seat because I was talking to a new friend who happens to be from Assumption Antipolo. After babbling about how I found the SanLo campus kawawoe compared to Antipolo, a noticed that the owner of the chair I was sitting on had doodled stuff on her table. I took a closer look. "Across the Universe...Here Comes The Sun..." Aha! A Beatlefan! Yes! Finally! She must own a copy of Abbey Road (1969) because these tracks are from that album. The moment she arrived back from lunch, I told her that I knew she was a fan, and I told her I was a big fan, too. Yeah...ok, I bragged that I had all the Beatles albums and all the songs they ever recorded, and that I can play "Blackbird," etc. in the guitar. Well, even if I have all the albums she wants, she still happens to study in the school I used to dream of attending. Ever since I was a little girl, I always wanted to study in Pisay, but I was short on six points (more on that later). I later on found out that her favorite author is...Gabriel Garcia Marquez! What an amazingly small world! And as if to make the World According to Ana even smaller, Pisay is my father's and Manna Marquez's mother's alma mater, and not only that. My friend from AA knows Jm, and my seatmate happens to have an artwork by my late grandfather in her house. (As it turns out, my other friend from Miriam is also a Beatlefan and may have an artwork by lolo in her house.) Anyway, my fellow Beatlefan requested that I lend her any of my Beatles CDs. I didn't just lend her. I made her a copy of my MP3. This MP3 isn't just a simple MP3. It's sort of like the Holy Grail of Beatle-lot! It's a program that contains all of the 26 Beatles albums! It contains all the songs The Beatles ever recorded before John's death, and to make things even better for her, I added Anthology 1's "Free As A Bird" and Anthology 2's "Real Love." ---- I've been reviewing for a week already, and I've always had my eyes set on this sort-of-hidden Indian-Arabian restaurant located in the same building where I review. I'm reviewing for the UPCAT and ACET through Expert Guides. Hehe. I don't know if they're really "expert guides," but they seem to have an affiliation with AC. Not only do they encourage Assumption students to review through Expert Guides, but they even hold review sessions in our wittle campus every May. Just last year, they "produced" one of Assumption's few Oblation Scholars: Mela Aquino. Well, the way I see it, she could have easily been an Oblation Scholar even without the help of Expert Guides. She's an exceptional human being; so exceptional that she'll never be aware that I once mentioned her in my blog. She might find the World According to Ana boring. Anyhoo, someone in Expert Guides claims that AC consistently manages to have around 80% of its students pass the UPCAT. That's good news for me, bad news for my mother; however, I still feel that the odds are against me. I feel that how much I want to get into UP is equal to how much I might NOT get into UP. So back to the Indian-Arabian restaurant: As my friend quipped, "It's like a hole in the wall!" Dumb and near-illiterate Ana thought that that was a compliment for the place. Now I know that it either means "(Brit.) an automatic cash dispenser installed in an outside wall," which it was not, "or a small dingy place," which to some people it may be. Of course, low-vocabulary Ana, who insanely thinks she'll get into a dream college with her awful rate of vocabulary, doesn't know what "dingy" means. It means "gloomy and drab." To make sure, Ana checks what "drab" really means. Well, she guessed its meaning right, and hopefully, she will too in the entrance exams. Now that I know what it means, I guess the place wasn't a "hole in the wall" at all. I liked the place. It's called Tajma. It's in Alvero Building which is behind Shakey's Katipunan (Katipunan, for me, is review class Mecca). I thought, from the outside, that it was a normal restaurant. I always wanted to try out Indian-Arabian food because I always knew I'd love it, but sadly, due to an unfortunate incident, my mother now loathes Indian food, especially curry. The first time I saw the place, I thought, "This is my chance!" Luckily, my friend also wanted to try it out. When we went in, I discovered that the place had a sitting area. They laid out carpets, pillows, and short tables for you to eat on. You'd be eating like a real sheik! It was so cool! They even had authentic sheeshas, which I immediately recognized as something from The Sims, and you can actually try them out. A sheesha is a smoking machine wherein the tobacco you use comes in different flavors. Of course, the menu said, "Smoking is dangerous for your Health. Minors are not allowed to smoke." I found out later on that using the sheesha is like smoking 18 cigarette sticks. Ugh! The place is like a novelty. It's so cool! The faucets for washing are stuck right smack in the middle of a tiled wall. Your waiters aren't the average twenty-something, part-time job kind of guys but are, instead, 9 yr.-old boys. I took advantage of the moment and ordered something that would make my mother cringe upon hearing: Chicken Curry Tandoori. With it, I ordered Arabian pita bread, which (for Kulture Klubbers) resembles Gregorian unleavened bread. I forgot what it was called, but it's flat and I think starts with a "k". Probably the only bad thing about the place is that once it gets full during lunch hours, the service gets quite slow. Once you get your food served by these little kids though, you figure it's quite worth the wait. When my order finally came, it was placed on a flat wicker basket. There was also a piece of cloth placed under my plate. I wouldn't have noticed it if my friend hadn't told me that my bread was wrapped with the cloth. It was so cool! The customers are mostly yuppies, and one of them happened to be an AC girl who graduated two years ago. Well...so much for all that. As I promised, here's our second Friends quote. ******************** Rachel: Hey Ross! Any word on the apartment yet? Ross: Well, I called over there and it turns out Ugly Naked Guy is subletting it himself and he's already had like a hundred applicants. Rachel: Oh. Ross: No-no, I got the edge. I know it's not exactly ethical but I sent him a little bribe to tip the scales in my direction. Check it out, you can probably see it from the window. (They all head to the window.) Monica: Oh, is it that pinball machine with the big bow on it? Ross: No. Chandler: That new mountain bike? Ross: No. Monica: Well, what did you send? Ross: A basket of mini-muffins. Phoebe: But there's a whole table of mini-muffin baskets. Which one did you send? Ross: The small one. Rachel: What?! You-you actually thought that basket was gonna get you the apartment? Ross: Well yeah! Someone sent us a basket at work once and people went crazy over those little muffins. It was the best day! Chandler: Your work makes me sad. ******************** Ad astra per aspera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 23:05 Friends Till The End... After ten years with the Central Perk gang, fans around the globe are now facing the inevitable final farewell.... ...but before Central Perk sells its last latte, let's take a fond look back into the past decade; into our favorite Friends moments. Every entry from now until May 6 will contain a quote from some of the show's best and most hilarious scenes... ...so get up from the recliner, stop playing foosball, come over to Monica's, and listen as Phoebe sings... ******************** Smelly Cat Chorus: Smelly cat, smelly cat What are they feeding you? Smelly cat, smelly cat It's not you fault They won't take you to the vet You're obviously not their fav'rite pet You may not be a bed of roses And you're no friend to those with noses (Chorus) ******************* Ad astra per aspera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 20:00 -------------------- Sunday, April 18, 2004Friends, Bruce Willis, and Six Degrees My Friends and I got addicted into playing a little game called 6 Degrees. We play this during recess, lunch, dismissal, and all the other breaks in between. What started out as a boredom ritual has turned into mammoth obsession for a lot of us. Even young Aurea Gallardo, whom most of you may know as Acon, has fallen into the hands of this powerful, mind-bending game. (A funny anecdote: During the first days of school, a teacher of ours, whom I shall call Kitty lest I get into trouble, accidentally called Acon "Acorn." I'm sorry Acon, but that was just so funny. I guess she found it funny, too, because it evident when she unsuccessfully tried to suppress her laughter.) Okay, so it isn't that mind-bending, but surely, it is something that has negatively affected our grades. Somehow, you just have finish that one round you've started, and once you're done with that, you want to start a new one all over again. Yes, we often lost concentration during class lectures because of this. Anyway, 6 Degrees is a fairly well-known game. You try to correlate, connect, or establish a connection between two people, by only six degrees. We usually bend the rules a little and take out the six-degree criterion, so the game is now really supposed to be called "Degrees." I think we do that because it's easier and because no one knows how many people there should be in between. Should there be six people in between or four? Unlike the original game, we only connect celebrities. Through movies and co-stars, we are able to connect, say, Adrien Brody to Jodie Foster. For example: Let's have Robert De Niro and Johnny Depp (here's to you, Acon). De Niro starred with Ben Stiller in Meet the Parents. Stiller starred with Winona Ryder in Zoolander. Ryder starred with Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted. Jolie will star with Brad Pitt in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, while Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom will be seen in Troy. Finally, Bloom starred with Johnny Depp in The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It's an absolutely fun and addicting game. You can connect them through their movies, TV shows, husbands and wives, girlfriends and boyfriends, parents, etc. However, we've gotten so good at it that we've made restrictions to further challenge into this otherwise useless field. Through the years, we have come to realize that there is one celebrity who makes this game so easy. He seems to be connected with everyone. His name is Bruce Willis. Try it and you'll see. Also, we have restricted ourselves from using Friends. This TV show is so popular, almost all of Hollywood biggest names have guest starred in this sitcom. Julia Roberts, Winona Ryder, Sean Penn...even Bruce Willis! LOL! So, enjoy the game and remember, Brosey Whoallis isn't your Friend. ...*snort* Ana Ad astra per aspera posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 19:35 -------------------- Saturday, April 17, 2004The World According to Ana I've been finishing The World According to Garp by John Irving all week. The first time I read it last year, I didn't it. Maybe because I couldn't take it yet. I intend to finish it tonight. Well, what can I say? Irving is a page-turner. A review by the Minneapolis Tribune proclaimed that "to be full of Garp is to be full of life!" Of all the book reviews ever written, that has to be the one that best describes the book its reviewing. It's nasty, it's beautiful; it's funny, it's tragic; it's sweet, it's disgusting. It's one of the most disturbing books I've ever read, and it's also one of those books that have made me cry. More importantly, this is a book that is so good, it's just too bad for me that it was already made into a movie, in which, by the way, T.S. Garp was portrayed by Robin Williams, who played Mork in favoritest [sic] TV show: Mork & Mindy. I've been taking review classes all week. They also gave out the UPCAT apps. I'm so excited. Despite the unavoidable pessimism surrounding this entrance exam, I am still excited. If I don't pass UP, I won't get to take up Film & Visual Comm. If that happens and I miraculously end up in Ateneo, I'll kill myself. Not physically because that's a sin. Maybe mentally, spiritually, and emotionally. In the Philippines, UP is my favorite school, and Ateneo is my enemy. It's the villain in my life. I don't know why, but the point is, this is how my future looks like from my perspective: it's either I get into the school of my dreams or the school of my nightmares. There's no "second-best" option. It's win or lose. Heaven or hell. No "2nd place;" no "silver medal." When and if I do end up in Ateneo de Whatever, the first thing I'll do is plan my hegira. (Yes, hegira is the perfect word for it.) I'll escape the country, which (if suddenly, the world is turned upside down) is in the hands of FPJ's men, and live out what is left of my dreams. posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 14:28 Sixteen Going On Seventeen I grew up watching The Sound of Music. My earliest memory of viewing that film was when I three. My family is a SOM fanbase, and Christmas family parties were always celebrated with us grandkids singing "So Long, Farewell" and the movie's other Rodgers and Hammerstein classics. Being the eldest, I was always Liesl. I would take pride in that, until I was cast as Kurt in the school play. But now, I am actually "Sixteen Going on Seventeen." Once again, I proud. I was always excited to be sixteen, because of all songs about that age, especially since I'm a girl. Sadly, I have only a few months left, and I shall soon be...Rolfe. W Well, it isn't that bad. The results of the "What's Your Theme Song?" Emode Test told me that my theme song was "Dancing Queen" by ABBA, which is good because I'm also an ABBA fan. We all know that a line in the hit goes "...young and sweet, only SEVENTEEN..." Also, when I turn 17, I'll buy my first Seventeen Magazine issue. ...17 isn't that bad after all. posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 14:19 -------------------- Thursday, April 08, 2004I haven't written in a long time. I've given up on making this blog nicer. It was supposed to look really good, but instead, it's just all red. No more JavaScript yadda yadda. But you know, all read isn't that bad. If you're wondering why the font is purple, well, red and purple is the color "theme" of my arrows. Speaking of arrows, we wrote to Eric Buhain, the chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission, requesting his kind assistance. To make the long story short, we asked him to sponsor me and my archery by, you know, providing me with a bow and a few more arrows. Mother says they'll start acting and deciding on what to do with me after Holy Week. That day, I got mail from NAAP (National Archery Association of the Philippines), and, guess what, there finally is an Indoor Archery Competition for me to join! Yay! I wouldn't need my own bow for that, but then I figured, won't it clash with the SCB-A summer training? Then, to my relief, I saw that the indoor competition is still on October. Yay! But won't that clash with some college entrance exams? Yes, it's Holy Week. It's time, once again, to stop, reflect, and repent. For you non-Catholics, Holy Week is the last week of the liturgical season of Lent, which comes right before Easter Season. Holy Week commemorates Jesus Christ's suffering and dying during His last days on earth. Speaking of Christ's passion, I watched Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. I knew it was going to be hard to take, knowing that Christ did suffer greatly, and the fact that two people have actually died watching it. Not to worry! I took extra pre-viewing measures. I watched the The Making of The Passion of the Christ so that the impact of the graphic violence wouldn't be as great on me as on those who have hyperventilated and fainted watching it. At least I now know how they actually did the nailing-of-Jesus's-hands scene. Then, I roughly viewed the pirated VCD, so that in case I wouldn't be able to take it, I would know when to start closing my eyes. I know it quite diminishes the experience, but please, I haven't even watched Braveheart yet. Well, you don't need to know how great the movie is. It's superb. It's amazing. It is one of the very few movies that actually made me cry. Other movies just make me teary-eyed. (I cried while reading Angela's Ashes, but I just get teary-eyed when I watch Mufasa's death scene in The Lion King) During the scourging scene, I kept muttering "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it, Mel! Stop it, Roman centurion!" Having viewed it previously, I couldn't wait til Abenader came. The scene that always gets me--see, I'm getting sad remembering it--was the scene when Christ falls the second time, and Mary rushes towards Him as scenes of an incident wherein Little Jesus falls and she rushes to carry Him flashes before us. The movie has a lot of flashback scenes, but they're injected a la There Will Come Soft Rains. Hahaha, can I digress for while? Patty once thought that There Will Come Soft Rains was There Will Come Soft Drinks! Hahaha! Patty talaga...I never really figured out the relation of the title to the story. Anyway, yes, The Passion. The movie uses juxtasp-, juxtaps-, juxstas-...forget it! The movie puts the old and new side by side. Say, Mary Magdalene is kneeling down, wiping Christ's blood off the floor near the pillar. The scene cuts to when the Pharisees are about to stone Magdalene, and Jesus saves her. In that scene, Magdalene is kneeling and crawling to touch Christ's feet. (A bit of trivia here: that wasn't actually Jim Caviezel's body in that flashback scene, but his apparent double,...Mel Gibson! Ahahaha! William Wallace-Mad Max! Hahaha!) By the way, with all of the movies on Jesus that I have watched, they always seem to cast someone who has already had previous exposure as Mary Magdalene. Monica Bellucci, Debra Messing, Yvonne Elliman...The thing with Monica Bellucci is that I've never seen her before, but apparently, she's been on one of the Matrix flicks. With the case of Debra Messing, I couldn't help thinking Will & Grace, Will & Grace, Will & Grace, laugh, laugh, laugh...and Yvonne Elliman, I kept singing "If I Can't Have You" from the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack. That song, much like most of the soundtrack, is a BeeGees song. And also, Elliman's rendition of "I Don't Know How To Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar was my Chorale audition song, which apparently works because it has gotten me into Chorale through both of my auditions. It's actually very funny to compare The Passion with JC Superstar. One was viewed by the Pope while one is sometimes hailed as blasphemous. Judas Iscariot in one looks and acts like Al Pacino while Judas in the other is already belting out Andrew Lloyd Webber from the very beginning. If the other one's ending shows Jesus rising from the dead in a simple, silent, and spectacular way, the other one shows Judas with back-up dancers singing. All week last week, I watched Channel V's The Year That Was. Okay, I know. You're asking, "Ana is watching Channel V?!" Well, it just so happens that they showed an all-week special on 1984. I never really liked the 80's even though I'm an 80's baby, but I knew that 1984 was a powerful year for the music industry, but I didn't expect it to be THAT powerful. I knew '84 saw Boy George and The Culture Club with "Karma Chameleon," one-hit-wonder Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "Relax" (from which the t-shirt came from), Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?" predating USA for Africa and the recent "What's Going On" All-Star Tribute, and of course, the song that saved the entire music industry on its own, Michael Jackson's "Thriller." As it turns out, all these following songs were from 1984! There was Van Halen's "Jump," Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun," Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson in "Say, Say, Say," Lionel Richie's "All Night Long (All Night)," even "Radio Ga Ga" by Queen, "Dancing In The Dark" by Bruce Springsteen, "I Just Called to Say I Love You" by Stevie Wonder, "What's Love Got To Do With It" by Tina Turner, and a lot more songs which makes you think why all these hits packed and squeezed into one single year! Kenya believe it? It's interesting to note that George Orwell had a book titled 1984. Hmmm...and I happen to have the 45 vinyl record singles of "Say, Say, Say" and "All Night Long (All Night)." Also, if you take the name Cindy and switch the y and the i, it will result to Cyndi Lauper's "Cyndi." Lastly, the "Dancing in the Dark" video was directed by Brian DePalma. I was walking around in Alabang Town Center years ago, when a music video being shown in some clothing store caught my eye. It turned out to be..."Dancing in the Dark!" Now, I never really knew Bruce Springsteen then, but what caught my attention was the girl in video. Guess who it was...Courteney Cox! It's looked very 80's, especially Courteney's pixie hair, so I said, "This must be before Friends!" I found out just last week that it was DePalma himself who picked Cox for the role of the lucky teenager who gets to dance with Springsteen onstage. Speaking of Friends, we only have a month with the Central Perk gang. On May 6, I think, Phoebe, Chandler, Monica, Ross, Rachel, and Joey...okay, and Gunther will sign off... Speaking of Friends, my friends have, all the while, declared my status as "missing in action." This was lifted only recently when I chatted with Lizzie in Messenger. That was the night Sam was to fly off to LA. They had some sort of despedida thing with her of which I was never told...heck! I didn't even know she was leaving! I didn't even know that a few days before that, Manna left for Oz! *Sigh* Just like my alter ego Phoebe, I'm always the last to know. Signed, Pheebs posted by Ana (sgtpepper72687@yahoo.com) on 18:55 -------------------- |
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