on films, books, food, restaurants, favorite haunts in Metro Manila (and now, Philadelphia)...
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| rants and raves on films, books, food, restaurants, favorite haunts in Metro Manila (and now, Philadelphia)... |
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Friday, February 28, 2003 TV RAVE Alias (2001) This is my favorite show of the moment (and I watch a lot of television). I caught some episodes in the States last summer on vacation, and decided to download the entire first season, and succeeding episodes as they’re aired. I’m surprised that ABS-CBN has gone through the trouble of dubbing the show in Filipino (CIA has been translated as “NBI”) and hasn’t bothered to air it on Studio 23, too expensive maybe. Jennifer Garner’s Sidney Bristow is the toughest woman on television today, but I don’t have much to say about Garner’s recent film appearances. She looked awful as a high class prostitute type in Catch Me If You Can. And while she kicked butt in Daredevil, she didn’t look as good there as she does on Alias. The supporting cast of Alias is excellent. Victor Garber as Sidney’s father has this icy penetrating stare, and he lends just enough awkwardness and detachment to the role to make him endearing but not a pushover. Sidney’s partner is Michael Vaughn, played by hunky Michael Vartan (One Hour Photo, Never Been Kissed) and the pair has great onscreen chemistry. But by far the biggest star of the show has to be its production design. Every episode features at least half a dozen different countries and they manage to make everything from the high domed churches to the cobblestone streets look authentically fill-in-name-of-country. They’ve even been to the Philippines, where they made our country look like some tropical hideaway with gorgeous white-sand beaches. Catch the Filipino version on ABS CBN on Mondays at 9.00. If you have access to a broadband connection, each 40+ minute episode is 440MB large. posted by wys | 4:33 PM 0 comments My FridayFive: 1. What is your most prized material possession? Maybe my SLR camera, it's been all around the world with me! 2. What item, that you currently own, have you had the longest? The books of my youth by Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume and Enid Blyton. 3. Are you a packrat? Definitely. I have all my palanca letters through high school, even the itty bitty pieces of paper that only read (note the misspelling) YOUR NICE. 4. Do you prefer a spic-and-span clean house? Or is some clutter necessary to avoid the appearance of a museum? I would like to have a clean house, but I don't think mine will be immaculate. It'll be dust-free, germ-free and cockroach-free, but papers and books will always mess up all tables and countertops. 5. Do the rooms in your house have a theme? Or is it a mixture of knick-knacks here and there? I'm not really into decorating so I might go for design themes (minimalist, filipiniana) and color themes (pastel, shades of blue, stark white), but not theme themes (cows, apples, flowers, nautical, etc). Put your own answers under comments. posted by wys | 10:01 AM 0 comments I had a mini-karaoke session with my brother past midnight last night. I'm not sure how it started, but I think I asked him if we had the Treasure Planet theme song by the Goo Goo Dolls guy on our hard drive and we didn't so he just started downloading it. Then he looked up the lyrics and started singing at the top of his lungs. I'm Still Here by Johnny Rzeznik is actually a pretty fun singalong song. We both decided we want to watch Treasure Planet if only to sing the theme song in the theater, I think he's even bringing a codigo. All in the name of cheese. Then we sang that corny Daredevil theme song Bring Me To Life by Evanescence, which even better because there's a girl part and a guy rapper part. The only thing missing was the non sequitur video stream. posted by wys | 10:00 AM 0 comments Wednesday, February 26, 2003 BOOK RAVE The Mad Tea Party by Clinton Palanca (2002) It’s a shame that the Inquirer decided to scrap the weekly column of Clinton Palanca. It is true that he would place food in the periphery of his essays when food was supposed to be the central point, but I rather enjoyed his digressions. His essays have a very personal journal-like quality to them, with a million and one deviations from food to travel, movies, popular culture and sex. The book appears to be independently published, explaining why it’s so hard to find. I got my copy in National Bookstore, but only a full year (or two) after it was first launched. The binding isn’t too hardy either with the last signature falling off as I was finishing it. Designwise, I think much more could have been done and I sense the book was rushed because there is no table of contents and the chapters inside are misnumbered. Production (dis)values aside though, this is an excellent read for all foodies. Available in National Bookstore (P350), MyAyala.com (P440). posted by wys | 1:33 PM 0 comments VIDEO RANT Possession (2002) I’m not familiar with A.S. Byatt’s novel, on which this film was based, so whatever opinions I have are based on this movie alone (I always thought it was so wrong for people to insist on comparing movies and books to each other anyway). The two good-looking leads are enough to get people to watch this film in droves, but the literary slant of it all might be a little too heavy and slow-moving for many. Aaron Eckhart, whom I have never heard of before, is the academic Roland Mitchell and exactly what I would imagine a Ken doll (of Ken and Barbie fame) to look like if he were a real person. He’s tall, light-haired and has this really deep cleft chin that looks like you could store quarters in. And Gwyneth Paltrow is Maud Bailey, and seemingly more interesting than usual because she always manages to play Brits better than Americans. The two are on some Nancy Drew type mystery chase to figure out whether the Victorian poets Randolph Henry Ash (Jeremy Northam) and Christabel Lamotte (Jennifer Ehle) were having an illicit love affair. By tracing old poems, letters, and even staying in the same hotel room the poets shared over a century ago, Roland and Maud eventually find themselves falling in love with each other as well. Predictable ho-hum romantic movie fare, but not at all a bad way to spend 102 minutes. And all the poetry they keep spouting out made me feel a little bit smarter after the movie was done. posted by wys | 12:55 PM 0 comments Tuesday, February 25, 2003 Wow it’s Mardi Gras next Tuesday (March 4). I always thought the idea of partying like crazy the night before the start of Lent was so cool, too bad no one in the Philippines is really into that. I would love to cook up a storm for my family and/or friends but I have a whole day affair on Tuesday and I prefer to have at least half the day off when I’m preparing dinner. If I have a Mardi Gras dinner on any other night that would be a little anachronistic and just feel plain wrong. Maybe I’ll just prepare some Chicken Gumbo Soup on Monday, to inject some Creole flavor into dinner. I have a great recipe from Food Magazine, and I also found another okay-looking recipe on the Food Network site. posted by wys | 10:39 PM 0 comments Blogging has gone to Hollywood: Are movie bloggers part of weblogging's natural evolution, or just a sign that another cool Net thing has been co-opted? Yeager is the latest incarnation of Hollywood's P.R. machine -- the official movie blogger. Part journalist, part copywriter, Yeager is finding out that being a pioneer movie weblogger presents myriad challenges, not the least of which is how to stay true to the form. By definition, weblogs are immediate, honest and unfiltered. The question is: Can Hollywood blog? The idea for an "I Love Your Work" weblog originated with one of the film's producers, Cyan Pictures, an indie film company in New York run by 20-somethings Joshua Newman, Yoav Fisher and Colin Spoelman. Newman, an avid blogger, used the format on Cyan's Web site to keep friends, potential investors and his parents abreast of the company's progress. - From Salon.com, read the rest of the article here. posted by wys | 4:11 PM 0 comments Sunday, February 23, 2003 RESTAURANT RAVE Antonio's in Tagaytay I just had dinner in Antonio’s in Tagaytay, one of the most popular restaurants of the moment. Thanks to generous multi-page articles in the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Philippine Star praising their food and lots of color photos showcasing their lovely landscaping, people have been calling up weeks in advance to make reservations. We called them and naively asked if we could get a reservation for the following day. The next available date they could accommodate us was a month away! Part of the charm of the place is the fact that it’s so out of the way, and that you have to plan so long in advance to go there because of the difficulty of getting a reservation. Chef-owner Tony Boy Escalante is very accommodating and makes it a point to talk to all his guests. Since we were among the first diners to arrive he even began telling us about his newly painted “distressed” patio doors. Ambiance is great, with none of that Manila smog to get you down. The restaurant is built on a sloping hill so all diners get a good view of the rest of the compound, and the setting sun. Dishes are admittedly a little pricey, expect to spend between 500 to 1000 pesos a diner. Salad, soup, coffee and dessert (soufflé!) all come with whatever main course you order. We decided on US Angus Ribeye Steak for two. And he was feeling a little decadent so he added panfried goose liver to his salad (an extra 350 pesos). I was starting to tell him what they do to the poor geese to get their livers all nice and big (they force feed them grain until they’re just about ready to burst) but he gave me the evil eye so I stopped. House specialty is some German pig dish I can’t pronounce … basically a boneless suckling pig stuffed with fennel, potatoes and all sorts of wonderful herbs. You need to be a party of at least 10 to order the pig, but it feeds up to 15. Antonio’s is a great dining experience for special occasions, our excuse was it was a post-birthday-for-me-slash-post-Valentine dinner. Antonio's is open on Tuesdays for dinner only and on Wednesdays to Sundays for lunch (11:30 a.m.-3 p.m.) and dinner (5:30-9:30 p.m.). Strictly by reservation only. Call +63 917 899-2866 or +63 917 819-1022. posted by wys | 11:23 PM Saturday, February 22, 2003 MOVIE RAVE Adaptation (2002) I just saw Adaptation, a deliciously bizarre film. I wasn’t sure to expect and was a little apprehensive because I didn’t like Being John Malkovich, the previous collaboration of director Spike Jonze and writer Charlie Kaufman. And I never particularly liked Nicholas Cage, I always thought he was too cheesy to be a dashing, heroic leading man type. Yet I loved the movie. It’s basically about the trouble screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Nicholas Cage) is having adapting the book The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean (Meryl Streep) into a movie. Now there really is a Charlie Kaufman, and there really is a book by a Susan Orlean called The Orchid Thief. So the movie is pretty much a very self-conscious work about the making of itself. It outlines Charlie’s problems with adapting a book that seems to be about nothing, and intertwines it with Susan’s experience of writing the book, until both threads violently collide in the final moments of the film. There are so many instances when the film pokes fun at itself that I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. For instance, in a moment of desperation Charlie attends a script-writing course with some Hollywood guru that advises him to never fucking use a deus ex machina, when Mr. Guru himself is one. I doubt this movie will be shown in theaters here. It didn’t even rake in that much dough in the US ($18M, peanuts by Hollywood’s standards). posted by wys | 11:45 PM 0 comments I have this terrible habit of reading half a dozen books at the same time. Think of it as channel surfing for the bibliophile. I’m currently working on finishing: · Catch 22 by Joseph Heller – I’m practically done with this book but not quite; Roger Ebert called last year’s Oscar Best Foreign Film No Man’s Land a modern day Catch 22 · Catch a Falling Star by Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo – I always try to support local literature · Summerland by Michael Chabon – I loved his previous book Kavalier and Clay, this book calls itself a “children’s book” but I think it can hardly be classified as such; in any case it’s turning out to be an enjoyable read · Technopoly by Neil Postman – a bit extremist, he blames the eroding American culture on technology like television · Virtue of Selfishness by Ayn Rand – there’s no such thing as a selfless good deed (which is what Joey once tried to convince Phoebe in an episode of Friends) posted by wys | 2:01 PM 0 comments Friday, February 21, 2003 I got these questions from this site called Friday Five. I think it's like a blog exercise thing of sorts, people who don't have anything to write, or who want to have something to write, answer the questions on the site. 1. What did you have for breakfast this morning? If you didn't have breakfast, why not? Three pieces of pandesal, Laughing Cow cheese, and too-strong coffee. 2. What's your favorite cereal? Special K, nutritious and delicious. And they have this kooky diet going on, eat Special K for breakfast and lunch, have a sensible dinner and lose 6 pounds in two weeks. 3. How often do you eat out? Do you want that to change? I eat out every Sunday with my family, maybe every other week on a date. 4. What do you plan on having for dinner tonight? Got a recipe for that? I was thinking of making Leg of Lamb a la Jamie Oliver (aka The Naked Chef) but I don't know if anyone's going to be home for dinner. 5. What's your favorite restaurant? Why? Le Souffle, because they have wide selection in their menu and service is always consistently excellent. posted by wys | 12:49 PM 0 comments Blogs are funny self-conscious, self-important things. posted by wys | 12:48 PM 0 comments |
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