saving private blair, the blair teach project

he's not really. private, i mean he's special envoy to the middle east. how that works, i have no idea. need saving, he doesn't. (or does he?)

tasked to talk about negotiations, leadership. and he did. amongst other things, like having sex in no. 10 downing street.

i wonder though why the organizers made the early-registrants take the crummy seats (back rows) while the ones who arrived later, got seats nearer the stage. and worse, when the more expensive, but not near enough seats were glaringly empty, same late-comers got upgraded! from blair teach project, this was fast becoming the blair bitch project!

when people learned i attended his talk, everyone of them asked if i had any problem understanding his speech - they presumed his accent would get in the way. i, of course, said no. on the other hand, that is why i refuse to watch slumdog millionaire.

yahoo day out 2 - manila bay like i have never seen before

glorious! i have always been a sunset/dusk person. well, technically, the sun stays where it does, the earth moves around it. but that is beside the point. there's something solemn witnessing the sun rise somewhere else (that is what happens when it sets where you are).

taking a cruise along the bay courtesy of yahoo! i have never seen roxas boulevard and manila bay from this perspective before. manila appeared clean, peaceful, calm. something to cherish.

Mark Nicdao ALIVE!

mark nicdao is hard-working. perhaps that's the reason he caught the interest of viva water/coca-cola, the multinational being the sponsor behind his first exhibit. in no less than fashion walk greenbelt 5. i hope he remains what he seems to be, grounded. good work mark, and francis dayao.

richard gomez's pic. one of my first local crushes as a teenager! francis dayao, where are the images?

march on - tambokikoy's

talk about packing it in, the second week of march was hectic to say the least. glutton for punishment. fresh from a centerfold photoshoot over the weekend, monday, 09mar is yet another shoot.

tambokikoy's chicken and pork inasal around the mandaluyong-maysilo circle. owned by adrian and treena tecson, the trendy cul-de-sac offers whole chicken inasal, boasts of high-profile clientele (TVC producers and directors, cinematographers, photographers, make-up artist and an analyst with morgan chase), and diehard adobo magazine fans! teddy catuira, award-winning TV commercial director was the joint's first customer! try and beat that!

we could have produced a TVC that night, and marketed it, too!

march bursting at the seams - 1st week

harrowing boracay. centerfold shoot. boracay might as well have been bora-bora. first came to boracay in january 1999. i had written then that the island was an international food court. march 2009, the shoreline has shrunk and still shrinking, the white sands have turned gray, worse than an international food court, the island has yellow cab and shakey's. the water wasn't even that inviting. jonah's fruitshakes and vegetable curry rock! discovery shores' menu marvelous! every single dish!

thanks to my boss, lunch was free and heavenly!

the centerfold talents were cool kids! what was potentially a disaster, ended up divine!

the best thing about the weekend of 07-08mar09 is that i made two new friends. millet and bahaghari saved the day for me. i am lucky that way.

past feb-post valentine

was thinking of my dear friend, whom i haven't heard from in a long time. dr. rona! :D what are you up to? how is our hometown?

dr rona raves over the same things i do: two for the road/movie and led zep! she's a die-hard bamboo fan!

here's bamboo, for you! taken at lovapalooza 2009.

killer three words

yes, what a bummer of weekend. what a bummer of a week, of a month! jeezzzzz!

1. can't make it
am in the midst of a centerfold shoot. got the photographer=bahaghari, the stylist=millet arzaga, even have the makeup artist/s=the makeup forum! and the location: boracay! and the flights, and the hotel! i just have half the talents to shoot. *sigh* such is my life.

2. hit his hip = alonso's own goal
in the midst of this unfolding, nerve-wracking project. liverpool loses to middlesborough. starting with an own-goal from liverpool's hardest-working midfielder (in fact, player), my fave xabi alonso.. poor xabi. killer three words = hit his hip. the ball HIT HIS HIP! WTF?!

3. just hurts more
hurts more than talents unavailable for the shoot. hurts more than undeserved scathing remarks. remarks, i simply ignore. in one ear, out the other. hurts more than deadlines not met. hurts more than people disappointed in you. just hurts more. period.

on with the week! on with the next match! wed, 03:50H v sunderland.

forward... march!

ten days since my last post. proof enough that work gets in the way of play. ggggrr. after a week of excitement, the mag i work for (the work-mag) turned 3 and what a party! we had the NYF awards, the ad of the year awards and the design competition awards. amidst all these, had articles to write, a centerfold photoshoot to organize, and friends to take care of. above all, i had football matches (of a lifetime!) to watch.

england 0-2 españa - what a match! two of my fave teams (i also like france) playing a friendly. alonso my baby passed what made the first goal! what a baby! becks played. and how! beautiful game! alonso and becks.

liverpool 1-0 real madrid - again, two of my fave teams!!! raul fouls alonso four seconds into the match. the two players i love! *LOL* alonso again, attempted his audacious long-range goal. terrific save by iker. woohooo yossi for the goal! i couldn't bear the look on the men in white. sergio ramos, raul, guti... that stunned the santiago bernabeu. can't wait for the anfield leg. just can't wait. i can't.

now with the anniversary out of the way. i have a photoshoot to organize. life goes on. and the shoot is in f*ing boracay! what was a beauty has turned into a hootie! *sigh*

forward, march!

photo: downloaded from many sites.

sleepless and listless

wow! what the hell happened to the last three weeks!?

i've not had a weekend of rest since the 2nd week of january. after the mag, a barrage of coverage! am not complaining... in fact, it's welcome respite from nothing but work. it is work, but of a different kind.

one thing that never fails to surprise me is that work is never predictable. last week, i was assigned to cover the judging of entries to the 3rd student ad congress. i got to the venue (unitel) half an hour late - i resolved to take a cab no matter how long it took - because i am a hapless commuter. at the event, i am immediately informed that the judging has not started. that makes me 'not late'? NO! i was late! definitely LATE!

anyway, after i was served coffee from sponsor mocha blends, i was informed that i was a judge. despite informing them that i was not an advertising creative, i became a judge. i was relieved to discover that my reviews were not that different from the experts and practitioners. hhhmmmmm, i surprise even myself!

what a week! i have a centerfold shoot to plan and no expense account to do it with. such is philippine publishing.

to be young and feeling

the last three weeks have been particularly hectic, stressful and sleepless for the editorial team where i work. but that is normal in that office. what isn't normal, and for which i take offense, is when a visitor has such cheek to edit your work.

the visitor, i shall name F for Feeling, happens to be a friend of a couple of my officemates. on his own, F is talented. i saw F's editorial cartoon. juvenile, but not bad. i am told F is also a writer, though i have not had the chance to read F's work. (but why should i have, i am just a writer.)

given that F was 'requested' to 'check out' my work the first thing F should have done was to ask what the work is based on, what it is about, etc. in short, to put one's self in the proper perspective. F did not. instead, F took to the task with much gusto. (witnessed by other officemates.) and i have proof. F's 'editorializing' was returned to me.

oh well.. maybe i should learn from F's, errrr, confidence. if the situation were reversed, i would have politely declined as i would have deemed myself not in a position to edit something i know nothing about - without first asking. but then, i am of a much older generation. and to quote dylan: things have changed. indeed! and much of it is perception. when is confidence, impertinence?

ahh, youth! tsk tsk tsk.

eHeads presscon: what's with the shades?

they filed in without saying a word, the quartet's faces registering nothing. not that you'd have been able to see any expression. shades covered most of their mugs.

attended by three generations of press people: the established, the contemporary, and the fan generations. from wrinkles to crinkles, italianni's at bonifacio high street was so jampacked, you could feel other people's cellulite. presscons always serve al dente pasta with cream sauce (or rich pomodoro), crispy veggie salad with the most fattening caesar's dressing, battered then deep-fried meat (they do that with fish too, of course) and chocolate inspired dessert - choco-topped/choco-glazed, choco-dipped, choco-based, choco-drizzled, choco everything! so, yes, cellulite!

oh, yes, back to the eHeads! for half-an-hour, they parried with the press. buddy was tasked the serious questions. raimund the wacky ones. ely and marcus took turns uttering a word each between them and pretty soon they made a coherent sentence strung together. as a group, they barely made eye contact, like strangers waiting for a ride at the bus stop - a perfectly normal rock band!

apparently, the future's so bright (still), they had to wear shades!

final set. 07 march at the mall of asia. waiting is a bitch! czek already bought tickets!

CCP at 40. midlife... all the sounds from the pavement

amidst wednesday traffic, we weed our way to the cultural center of the philippines. celebrating its 40th anniversary, the CCP reveals its plans for 2009. fantastic offerings!
lunch was elegantly simple, a dark artistic intimate affair onstage at the CCP. it was a pleasure to see tess rances and nes jardin after 7 awfully long years. saw mavic of ballet philippines. ibarra mateo (blast from my UP-louie beltran past) and michelle logarta from my award-winning history 100 class.
the CCP presented the press with previews of what the year had in store - one of my fave opera pieces "o mio babbino caro" by soprano camille lopez-molina, a dance the devil would envy from rhosam prudenciano, jr, and a live performance from leo valdez.
whoaaahh! what a week. another perk that comes with the job. i ain't complainin'!

the best perks that come with the job

had a magnificent morning last tuesday at the ayala museum. czek and i spent hours shooting toto sicangco's authentic costumes for the plexiglass slipper. moved to tears, we were, too. out of the display glass and underneath our adoring fingertips, toto's costume pieces were exquisite! it was overwhelming..

philipp

today was philipp's last day at work. (though, he'll stay until he's done with his project.) such is how things work, at work.

i started working in adobo with philipp while he was doing OJT. attended many events with philipp and enjoyed all of them. he's a fun guy to hang out with!
i got this text from him just before midnight a few nights ago.

Those who find ugly meanings in beautiful things are corrupt without being charming. This is a fault - Oscar Wilde

well i suppose charm, (no matter how minute) is a despot's luck and ally.
miss you already, P! *sigh*

baguio in bloom

hibiscus red, dainty white daisy. frail, clinging bird. in paradise is lured. fragile seedling on rock thrives.
vira arceo, tessie celestino howard, cristy serrano.
and allen velez. my thanks, gracious ladies, for making me feel warmly welcome.
allen, my heartfelt thanks for expanding my horizons - literally and figuratively. super delish the ube jam! :D

of plots, bread and a charismatic mayor

for the love of my great friend allen (velez), ASAP, and adobo mag, i joined the ad congress ad venture in baguio in 14-degree weather. freezing my butt off for three days is my cup of tea. seriously!

with people who i will spend most of the year with (centrex, DDB, ways and means, venue, trade exhibit, PR...) we trampled on the holy ground we would from then on desecrate with our chatter and prattle, on to november. after treading the walkway on what we will eventually trek 20 million times to D-day. thus ended day 1.

day 2, first on the agenda. buy scarves, caps, gloves. scarves, caps, gloves. scarves caps gloves. the cold was giving us brain-freeze! after a hectic morning of meetings, designs and a lunch interview with the city mayor peter rey bautista.. we were off. soon we were whacking bamboo poles into resisting ground with protesting stones. lining plots of yellow string to the last centimeter to make a buck for the congress. this is after all, a recession. day 2 ended with the group having a shivering dinner al fresco. WTF?!!

day 3. at 1:30am in anticipation of liverpool v stoke city, i thought it prudent to stuff myself under the covers lest i allow my ears, nose and eyelids to freeze. i had previously invited myself to attend, with the mayor's support, a project he personally champions. harvey and john chua (advertising photographer) of ASAP have organized a photography campaign to enlighten autistic children. i braved the 6AM cold to join the party and head off to la trinidad benguet. it was a fantastic day!

okay, so we braved the cold, and ate huge meals to compensate. who were we kidding? after all said, baguio is still beautiful. or should i say - beautiful once more..? or maybe because this is the baguio i miss. the cold, dreary, gloomy feel. the cottage at baguio country club was charming, but atrociously expensive. but i can't complain when i was as comfortable as a curled, napping cat in the midst of winter.

so with carefully saved money for my precious strawberry jam from good shepherd and kamote bread from my sanctuary cafe by the ruins, (as well as some goodies from raisin bread) and allen's present of ube jam, i prepare myself to face the monstrosity that is metro manila.

i've met new people, made new friends, and forged better bonds and i have fallen under the spell of baguio. yet again.

he is all right!

the universe listened and granted.
return to normal mode.
he is all right.
xabi alonso is all right.
phewww!

the grind

yes. back to the grind.
fruitful, beautiful day!
a good way to start 2009.
back to the grind.
(not a grinding halt.)

missed you, patty!
great italiani's dinner!
still no news on xabi.
why must i torture myself?

holiday things you HAVE to do when work beckons

on the last day of the holidays, i woke up with half the day gone. it was expected. i slept later than the newspaper delivery. sick with worry i was and STILL am with xabi alonso limping away and with a temp brace at half-time.

now i have to spend the day cleaning and clearing. feeding circle-bunny and my adopted street-cat mogwai. who, i am discovering, does not fancy milkfish. what a high maintenance lodger!

reality is crashing on me. i have to get to that filing of my reimbursements to start the year right. it's a feeble act. i should've done a lot of writing. articles, not blogs. and i have to wrap presents i didn't get around to giving at christmas. i am a very sorry case.

liverpool 2-0 preston north end.
i would give up that win for good news on xabi...
on xabi, no news is good news!
go reds!

photo credits : i have no idea, but thank you to you.

greenbelt

from the dark, gloomy and clandestine lovers' lane of the 80s to the gloss, glitz and glamour of the new century, greenbelt is a godsend. unfenced and sans gate, the park hosts residences, specialty shops, a supermarket, a deli, restaurants, coffee shops, a comedy club, a videoke bar, convenience shops, a drugstore and beauty bar, a music shop, a museum, (a chapel), a bookstore, a photo shop, a pond with fish and mallard ducks, fountains, gardens, a performance stage, hotels, B&Bs, clean bathrooms - did i miss anything? oh, yes, and a convenient, covered and safe walkway from the office to the train station.
what else can a weary work-rat ask for?