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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Sunday, November 30, 2003 Interesting article in today’s edition of the New York Times Magazine. They got some guys from a design firm to identify and dissect designs they found interesting. Interesting stuff. Check out the article (Seeds of Inspiration) here. On their list: Selfridges Department Store Birmingham, England, opened September 2003. The Blister Band-Aid Band-Aid Brand's Advanced Healing Blister, released spring 2003. SpongeBob SquarePants Nickelodeon cartoon character, made its debut in 1999, will be in a film in 2004. The U.S. $20 Bill One billion went into circulation in October 2003. The Tropf' Nix No-Drip Popsicle Ready for consumption in Germany, summer 2003. The Aquada Car-Boat The Bond series, introduced September 2003. The Muhammad Ali Book To be released by Taschen in December 2003. posted by wys | 12:04 AM 0 comments Thursday, November 27, 2003 My mum ordered a turkey for our reunion tomorrow! It’s actually a bit of a rip off because we’re being charged 2.67 times more than what we would pay if we bought a frozen turkey in the grocery and cooked it ourselves. Roasting a turkey is easy as pie, but neither my mum nor I have four hours to spend roasting, stuffing, basting tomorrow. Maybe next year. posted by wys | 10:10 PM 0 comments Wednesday, November 26, 2003 I love Amazon—the company, the web site, shopping on it, their great marketing ideas, free shipping, the selection of merchandise, the way they get me to buy more stuff by suggesting related items. Amazing, I remember when people used to be really hesitant to buy stuff over the Internet but it’s so convenient (especially if you live in America) it’s almost ridiculous to have to drag yourself to the bookstore and buy something. I remember going on this insane book buying shopping spree last year when I was in the States for vacation. Shipping for (most) items over $25 was free! So I would of course always force myself to buy at least $25 worth of stuff for every purchase. I would mostly buy books, but I even bought a big bulky weighing scale once because I was having such a hard time finding the right one when I’d go out shopping in brick and mortar stores. Of course I would still march myself over to Barnes and Noble or Borders, and I actually bought a few books. Then I realized that stuff was cheaper over the Internet (inclusive of shipping costs, if any at all) so I would march back to the bookstore and return their overpriced books to them. Shipping is also amazingly efficient. I think they’re into under-promise over-deliver thing because my packages would always arrive way before they said it would. Amazon just sucks you in … you buy one book or CD and they have friendly “Others who bought this item also enjoyed Item A and Item B … and Item Z” spiels going for EVERYTHING you buy. This Christmas season they have this great thing going whereby they get celebrities to make their own gift recommendations. A lot of die hard fans would gladly lap up anything their favorite TV or rock star idols would have on their personal Must Have Lists. The beauty of the arrangement is that Amazon doesn’t even have to pay the celebrities for showing their faces because it’s an opportunity for them to hawk their own products (i.e. Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows has as his number one pick their new album). Check back for a new Celebrity A-List everyday. Thank goodness I live in a place so far away from the land of overflowing milk and honey that it doesn’t make economical sense for me to purchase anything online and have in shipped here. Of course my sister comes back to Manila twice a year … hmmm if I start ordering now I still might be able to get some books, CDs and movies to her before she leaves. *Recently Amazon also started this “search inside the pages of books” search engine thing that the industry is touting as the biggest thing. Ingenious as well I suppose, but not something I would really make use of. posted by wys | 10:36 AM 0 comments Sunday, November 23, 2003 Inquirer editors are the worst when it comes to useless scandalous headlines. In today's banner headline: Kris: I still have to decide on my 2004 pick In the online edition they placed the story in the Entertainment section, but in the print edition of the paper it's the friggin lead story (or whatever you journalists call it). Fine, the number one newspaper in the Philippines likes to run useless (but interesting ...?) stories like these, but admit you're as bad as all those British tabloids and stop pretending to be a legit and respectable publication. posted by wys | 1:54 PM 0 comments Oh we went to the little itty bitty Rustan's Fresh supermarket along Katipunan and seeing all the raw meat and fresh herbs and everything else supermarket-ish made me realise how much I miss cooking, trying to cook, baking, having a stack of cookbooks by my bedside. On a different topic, I read that cookbooks are an immensely popular category of literature (?) in the US, but suprisingly people enjoy reading them in bed. I can totally relate, there's just something about a well written recipe that gently lulls me to sleep. Maybe that's why I (along with the rest of the world) love the friendly banter of Jamie Oliver's recipes ... get the biggest pan available, two glugs of olive oil, a handful of basil, and it will slide into your plate with no trouble at all. posted by wys | 1:47 PM 0 comments Saturday, November 22, 2003 It’s almost Thanksgiving. I think last year I watched that cutie Charlie Brown Thanksgiving DVD. Of course some people will say the only thing Americans have to be thankful about is that their ancestors gave the Native American Indians blankets laced with smallpox, but in the interest of political correctness, let’s not go there. In any case the main reason I love Thanksgiving is that it gives me an excuse to buy a turkey, cook it and have everyone eat it. Ho hum, no time to cook this year of course, maybe I’ll remind my mum to order a cooked one. Or we could have an outrageously expensive Thanksgiving buffet in a hotel restaurant (given time and financial constraints, unlikely). posted by wys | 12:27 PM 0 comments Some news bites:
Friday, November 21, 2003 Lots of sales in Metro Manila going on this time of the year as well. What better way to spend your (hopefully) fat Christmas bonus than on lots of stuff you don’t really need, and might not even really want. Retailers supposedly make 1/3 of their yearly revenues/income/what-have-you in the last 1.5-2 months of the year. All for the economy. (stolen from here).
posted by wys | 12:13 AM 0 comments Some local bazaars this Christmas 2003. Christmas in the Philippines is all about the bazaars. (stolen from here.) Bargain Hunt 2003 Date & Time: November 29-30 and December 20-21. 9-7 PM. Place: White Plains Covered Court, White Plains QC Menchie Mabanta Bazaar A Christmas Gallery: Nov. 16 & 17 F.O.B. Manila: A Holiday Treat: Nov. 23 & 24 The X'Mas Factory: Nov. 30 & Dec. 1 Philippine Stock Exchange Center (Tektite) Date & Time: Oct. 29, 2003 10:00 AM • Oct. 30, 2003 10:00 AM • Nov. 27, 2003 10:00 AM • Nov. 28, 2003 10:00 AM • Dec. 17, 2003 10:00 AM • Dec. 18, 2003 10:00 AM • Dec. 19, 2003 10:00 AM F.O.B. Manila: A Holiday Treat Date: Dec 6, 2003 9:00:AM • Dec 7, 2003 9:00:AM • Dec 13, 2003 9:00:AM • Dec 14, 2003 9:00:AM Place: Makati Sports Club Entrance fee: P50 American Women's Club of the Philippines November Bazaar Date: November 11, 2003 Time: 8:30: AM - 3:00: PM Place: World Trade Center, corner Roxas Blvd. and Gil Puyat Blvd., Pasay City Christmas Bangketa Sale Date: Nov 14 - Dec 31, 2003 Place: Greenhills Shopping Center, Ortigas Ave., San Juan Heaven Sent: The Lifestyle Bazaar Date: November 15-23, 2003 Place: The Manila Polo Club, Makati City The Magi '03 Date: November 22-23, 2003 Place: Makati Sports Club Ballroom, Makati Menchie Mabanta Bazaar III Date: November 27-28, 2003 Time: 10:01 AM - 6:00: PM Place: PSE Bldg Auditorium, Tektite, Ortigas Christmas Bargains @ La Vista Maranaw Date:November 29-30, 2003 Time: 9:00: AM - 9:00: PM Place: La Vista Subdivision, Maranaw Park Katipunan Avenue, Quezon City Shop @ The Fort Bazaar Nov. 1, 2003 9:00:AM • Nov. 2, 2003 9:00:AM • Nov. 8, 2003 9:00:AM • Nov. 9, 2003 9:00:AM • Nov. 15, 2003 9:00:AM • Nov. 16, 2003 9:00:AM • Nov. 22, 2003 9:00:AM • Nov. 23, 2003 9:00:AM 5th Angel Sent Bazaars November 29 and 30, 2003, Araneta Center Trade Hall EDSA corner Farmers Drive, Araneta Center Cubao, Quezon City posted by wys | 12:09 AM 0 comments Tuesday, November 18, 2003 Tired tired tired. Cramming cramming cramming. And I have a lovely new episode of Alias waiting for me in my computer (Episode 6 of Season 3, Episode 7 is still downloading). No time or energy to watch it though. Pooh. It's Christmas though! Traffic ... bright lights ... lots of food ... and a few Asian trips in the pipeline for me. posted by wys | 11:11 PM 0 comments Saturday, November 15, 2003 Wow so many concerts this time of the year. List stolen from BusinessWorld. Hmm dodgy writer at that paper, she mentioned 10 different foreign acts (performers?) coming in but now that I'm counting it's only 7 distinct concerts because the F4 crew are four. Sheesh.
posted by wys | 8:53 AM 0 comments Monday, November 10, 2003 For my Cebu trip this weekend I took along some light reading, The Thief Lord. Haven’t actually finished it yet. And I did get pretty dizzy reading it on the plane. Go figure my airsickness-ness. So far it’s pretty interesting. It’s set in Venice so we have a lot of the old architecture, smelly canals, antique stores, hidden passageways, etc. I think I only bought it because I remember many months (or years?) ago reading about it in Time as being the “Next Harry Potter.” Of course if I really wanted the “Next Harry Potter” I could actually just wait for the “Next Harry Potter” (aka Book 6). * * * Bobby Garcia and co. are putting up Urinetown this coming December. As interesting a Christmas play as I’ve ever seen. I got to see it last year when I was still jobless and doing nothing but watching plays. Great great story, really funny stuff from a couple of guys that didn’t really have that much experience writing musicals (if I recall correctly). Tickets aren’t excessively expensive though, at a little over PHP700 each. Who would want to watch a play about PISS though? Well it’s not really about PISS, it’s about this town with such a terrible water shortage that people aren’t allowed to have their own toilets and they have to pay exorbitant fees to pee in horrible public toilets. It’s like this post-modern (? … !) musical that is terribly conscious and aware of itself and the stereotypical storylines and plot devices that can be found in all musicals. But it pokes fun at its own genre in a hilarious way, not in an annoying Scary-Movie-hardi-har-har sort of way. Very tongue in cheek humour, sort of Mel Brooks-ish but on a slightly brainier scale. If Ticketworld is to be believed, Urinetown is set to run on December 5,12,13,19, 2003 at 8:00PM at the CARLOS P. ROMULO AUDITORIUM , RCBC Plaza; Orchestra = P721.00 , Loge = P618.00 , Balcony = P361.00 posted by wys | 11:43 PM 0 comments Saturday, November 08, 2003 MOVIE RANT Matrix Revolutions (2003) Die hard fans loved it and will undoubtedly watch it many times over … but I didn’t find I particularly enjoyable. There was the aliw factor at certain times but it got pretty old pretty fast. The first Matrix movie was definitely the best, if only for the novel storyline the movie presented. The second Matrix movie put me to sleep (I did watch it on a Friday night after a long work day though). And this third Matrix movie just left me with a strangely unsatisfied feeling as I left the theater. Action scenes were good, but overall ho-hum. Different, but all in the same way really. There was also some tongue-in-cheek humor which was good for a few chuckles but didn’t really fit into the whole serious mood of the film. The whole philosophy of the architect, the oracle, people knowing what their destiny is, people choosing to do certain things because they know its right despite the seeming meaninglessness of life … it’s semi-designed to fly over the heads of most viewers I think. Ah, who cares what I have to say. The whole world is going to watch it anyway. And probably end up buying it on DVD (original and otherwise) anyway. In cinemas everywhere. Don’t feel pressured to watch it if you can help it. * * * PS. I hear the Wachowski Brothers have this scientology type cult that hit the Philippines recently. Can’t remember the name though. It’s like the Philosophy of the Matrix as a religion. And I think they ask for some upfront donation before they let you in. * * * Bought an Ayala Cinema M-Pass today. The idea is pretty cool, you have this plastic credit card type thing with a barcode that you load credits into via the Internet. After you reserve online, no need to pick up your tickets beforehand. You can go straight to the cinema itself and they have barcode readers at the door of each cinema. Ticket-less movie viewing. Well maybe they’ll print a little stub with your seat numbers, I don’t know. posted by wys | 4:47 PM 0 comments Friday, November 07, 2003 I had front row seats to the masa rally along Ayala Avenue this afternoon. Because my office is on the second floor of my building overlooking the statue of Ninoy Aquino (Ayala cor Paseo) I get to see a lot of rallies (mostly mini semi-sad ones). The one today was pretty amazing though because there were quite a number of people. At first it was pretty interesting seeing all the paid goons march around in their red shirts, but then they set up camp right in front of Ninoy’s statue and started giving speeches, playing Pinoy rock songs (they had a band!) and burning these papier-mâché GMA and Davide figures. It got pretty old pretty fast. Still I couldn’t help but feel a little sad about the fact that I didn’t bring my digital camera along. posted by wys | 11:58 PM 0 comments I’m currently watching the last few episodes of CSI Miami Season 1 (and I have Season 2 waiting to be watched) and I must say again that I actually really like David Caruso’s Horatio Caine. Cool, calm, collected … overall likeable guy. I don’t know if I’m experiencing strange CSI (original series) withdrawal symptoms because I haven’t seen a new episode in so long … but the spin-off is just as good for me (blasphemy others cry out!). And the white sand beaches, blue skies and sunny weather actually makes me want to go to the beach, and I hate the beach. * * * Why I Love Bazaars
posted by wys | 11:35 PM 0 comments Tuesday, November 04, 2003 And on my Avantgo, I read about: · P Diddy finishing the NY Marathon in just over 4 hours after only training for 2 months. If he can do it, anyone can … my brother says it’s in the African American athletic gene (whatever that means) · Broadway play The Producers is doing really really badly. Must be a great time to watch it now. · Oldies are keeping the music industry afloat … so quite a number of the artists on the Billboard 200 are either · Sting and Rod Stewart are having a catfight · Some European reality show had these guys date/kiss/whatever else this former male transsexual person and the contestants are crying foul · Film Awards Season “screener” rule is being revised yet again. posted by wys | 9:11 PM 0 comments From the Asian Wall Street Journal (no I don’t read the business news, I only read the chismis Networking section … which is similar to the back section of Time with all those little interesting but useless bits of information that make you feel like you learned something new today): · Crazy video game people are trying to turn video game critiquing into an art … so that games may progress the way movies have. Think, games for the sake of art, and not for the sake of profit. Whatever. · Stephen King is releasing the last two books of his 7-book gun slinger series. He’s a kooky guy with so-so horror books that were never really much to my liking. And the movie versions of his horror books never translated too well either. * * * Brothers and parents just got home from the States so everyone is in this middle stage of jet laggedness keeping weird hours and all. When I wake up to get ready for work the entire household is awake! Highly unusual for a household that loves to sleep. posted by wys | 8:57 PM 0 comments |
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