Whitney

"I didn't know my own strength.
I crashed down and I tumbled,
But I did not crumble.
I was not built to break.
I didn't know my own strength."

So goes the chorus to one of the last Whitney Houston songs I came to love.  I adore glorious comebacks and hers was one I felt was long overdue.  So when her last album came out, I bought the CD, pushed it into the player and listened to the entire thing on loop all the way to Boracay.  I noticed that her voice was raspier than I remembered and the songs were in a much lower register.  Her runs were more predictable and less complicated, her notes less sustained.  The big belter was quite difficult to find.  In its place had settled a more subdued, more vulnerable, more heartfelt Whitney Houston.  And that side of her I embraced willingly even if I admit I missed the booming voice and the notes that could hurl one straight into a brick wall.  Long before her death on Sunday, I had already realized that the Whitney Houston of my childhood was never coming back.

Songs are a means of achieving some semblance of immortality.  Certain memories wind their way through the measures both for the singer and the listener.  As a little girl, Whitney Houston was quite awe-inspiring to me.  She was one of the first pop singers I looked up to - really, really looked up to.  Before her marriage, she was almost squeaky clean and was the daughter of a gospel singer.  "Greatest Love of All" was an ultimate favorite anthem.  My mother used to encourage me to sing just like Whitney - huge voice and solid belting that sent musical notes spiralling to the moon.  So I tried to do just that in my striped red pajamas with the little flowers at age 4, grabbing a microphone and literally screaming myself to the most awkward shade of blue as I struggled with "One Moment in Time" and later "I Wanna Dance with Somebody."  If I could take a look down my throat with tongue depressers, I knew I had scratched myself from the inside with hidden claws from my voice box.

But it was "The Bodyguard" that convinced me that Whitney Houston was simply the most amazing singer of all time.  I was ten and a little too young for the movie but I listened to the soundtrack over and over and over and over again until the cassette tape could have snapped off the plastic rods.  I remember being rendered immobile as I listened to her sing "Run to You" and "I Have Nothing" but it was "I Will Always Love You" that simply won me over.  I still remember watching her on TV as she sat on a chair in the music video, the camera zooming out from her face at the very second that the momentary silence is interrupted when she opens her mouth and sings "And I(aiiiiyeeey)......will always loooooove yooooou."  It was pure exhilaration, nothing less.  Even now, when I listen to that song, the gloriousness of that moment never disappears.  It's an entirely different thing to simply hit the note from singing it.  Her rendition was effortless, uncluttered and an absolute epiphany.  The ease with which she released that powerful voice of hers was almost mesmerizing.  From that time on, I decided I was going to stop trying to be like her because I realized there was no way I was ever going to sing with that precision and power.

Whitney was the benchmark.  Singing contests, lip-synching competitions, beauty pageants...you name it.  People were always trying to sing her songs, attempting to imitate her trademark runs and jawdropping belting.  For instance, take a look at all twelve seasons of American Idol and make a mental note of all the times the contestants decided to slay a Whitney Houston song.  Then try to recall how many of them passed muster.  In the end, the Whitney version was always a gigantic spectre quite too difficult to kill.

There is great unhappiness when I think about how troubled she had become later on until the end of her life.  It was a truth I found very difficult to comprehend - that the immense talent which gave me so much joy was not affording Whitney her share.  She was a poor thing, wasting away before the eyes of her adoring fans.  Her singing mirrored her life.  She was trying to regain what she had before her tumultuous marriage and her drug addiction.  No matter how much I wished for a comeback, I knew it was not going to happen - not when she couldn't take control of her personal life and her wavering voice.

There is great consolation as I listen to more cuts from "I Look to You."  As Whitney was stripped of a great instrument - her formerly reliable voice - she bared her soul even more in her songs as well as her faith.  "I look to you," she sings in the title track. "When all my strength is gone," she adds, "in You I can be strong."  She knew where to look for courage in the midst of her own frailty.  In the wake of her death, it might seem that her source of that strength had failed her.

"I look to You," she sings once more.  "I look to You."

"And when melodies are gone,
In You I hear a song,
I look to You."

Even in death, despite every fall and her tragic end, Whitney Houston is still an inspiration.

Of Valentine's Day Lists and Queues

I should have known today was the wrong day to go grocery shopping. But to be rather honest about it, I really thought that all the lovers of the world would be congregating in restaurants or cafes and not in the grocery store. As Master Yoda goes, "So wrong I was."
I was picking up some last minute things for my friend's wedding tomorrow when I was asked to drop by the grocery store to pick up a dozen eggs. The lines in the check-out counter were kilometric and even if there were hearts dangling all over the place, I could say "all the loving'" was the the last thing everybody was feeling.

I lined up at the express counter which allows payment for baskets or carts carrying 15 items only. It was exactly like the rest of the supermarket - bursting with people jostling for space, toddlers crying and kids going through the gondolas near the counter, asking mama to buy a stick of gum or a bag of candy. A guy and his best friend were ahead of me, carrying a basket of chips and some prune juice (or so I think it was prune juice). I cradled the eggs on one hand while I started texting with the other. I was dead-tired since school had started early in the morning and all I wanted to go home, have dinner and then walk the dog before going to sleep. I was suspiciously eyeing a cart half-full with groceries which was parked right beside the express check-out counter, wondering what in the world it was doing there.

The next thing I know, this lady of about 40 elbows her way past us and starts pushing the cart in between the two guys ahead of me and the girl standing in front of them. "Excuse me," she said. "That's my spot," she indicated, pointing at the microscopic space between the girl and the two guys ahead of me.

Bewildered, I glanced at the sign in the counter to check if I was indeed in the right queue. The sign remained the same, still screaming "Express Counter, 15 items or less." My eyes ricocheted to the lady's half-full cart. I am no mathematician but there was no way either beyond or below the stratosphere that the items inside the cart would amount to 15. It was more like 15 sets of 15.

She kept on jabbing her cart at the eensie-weensie space in front of the two guys. One of them, a guy in a brown shirt with closely cropped hair let out a very polite protest. "Ma'am," he began to say, "this is an express lane. Only fifteen items are allowed per transaction."

I eyed the lady who was now teetering close to an uproar. Her eyes bulged as she started pulling items out of her cart. "I know," she said curtly. "That's why I'm transferring my items to a basket," she declared.

She should not have said basket. She should have said basketS. Yes, that's with an "S" as huge as the Rio Grande.

She and her husband started pulling out one basket after another, filling each basket with, you guessed it, fifteen items and then lining them up in the express counter. The two guys and I watched with eyes aghast as she did this rather mechanically, dropping one item after another into one basket, two baskets, three baskets…four…

I had never been so flabbergasted in my entire life. Well, no, maybe I have been before but what I meant was, I had never been this stumped in the longest time. We all know very well what the point of having an express counter is. The name precisely implies its purpose. But this lady was being smart about the entire set-up and was working around a prohibition, much like a lot of people in this country. In fact, much like a lot of lawyers in this country. Haha. Anyway, if she was tired, so were we. If she hated long lines, so did we. If she wanted to go home, so did we. If she had a long day, she could take a look at mine and realize it was equally as intense. We were in the same boat, pari passu as my Banking teacher would say. It just so happened that the sign technically allowed us to fall in line right there but the same could not be said for her. But, no! She was going to have her way and we either had to take it, leave it or face up to her. And man, did I want to stand up to her, to tell her she can't just push us around like that, not when the sign has clearly chosen our side, no matter which court in the land takes jurisdiction of our potential dispute.

I wound my fingers around the egg crate and did a mental countdown that my mom told me to do whenever I felt my internal fuse box starts to spew fumes of some sort. "Patience," I told myself. When part of the plastic crate went "creak," I stopped with the squeezing lest I crack one of the eggs. I bit my lip so as to diffuse the anger that was now welling up within me.

"1…2…3…" I began to count when all of a sudden, out of nowhere, I just burst like a bubble - and started snickering. It wasn't a sarcastic, sinister kind of laugh. It was laugh that was initially born out of audacity and was now nurtured by nothing but sheer amusement. I stifled my gurgles with my handkerchief and turned away from the sight of the lady and the two men before me. True, this lady was mean and unfair but, in a way, she was also outrageously, creatively funny. And besides, it was Valentine's Day and the world needs some love going around.

The two men ahead of me were fuming mad and moved to the express counter beside us which had an even longer queue. I followed suit, still with my handkerchief practically glued to my mouth, still fending off sporadic snickers. The line moved slowly until I finally got to the cashier and paid for my plastic crate of eggs. As the bagger handed me the plastic bag with my purchase, I eyed the the counter where I had originally stood earlier.

The lady still stood there, two people away from the counter, her baskets clumped around her like eggs arranged in a mother bird's nest.

---

Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I figured I could at least ride along with the lovey-dovey feel and the deluge of pink and red. Back in college, my friends and I used to have a movie marathon come February 14 (of the weekend closest to that day). We'd rent the sappiest, cheesiest romantic movies, pile up on the chips and chocolate and lug around huge bottles of soda then soak ourselves in a jacuzzi of all the schmaltz possible, non-stop from morning till…er…early the next morning.

Now since I am practically drowning in all the saccharine possible, I'll just pour on more sugar and get as mawkish as possible as I go through my list of favorite romantic books and movies and, of course, sappy love songs.

Though I've never been a huge fan of the romantic genre when it comes to my books, there have been a number of standouts in my bookshelf - and nothing beats the classics. Wuthering Heights is as sweeping as the lush moors which bear witness to Catherine and Heathcliff's turbulent love for each other. Pride and Prejudice is quirky and entertaining in its own right - no matter how quaint it may seem at every page - and I indeed have lost count of the number of times I asked myself, "Will Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy end up with each other?" Nicholas Sparks churns out one charming story after another but my favorites have to be the book-turned-movie A Walk to Remember and The Rescue, a poignant story about a troubled fireman, a single mother and her autistic son. An interesting pick is Train Man, a Japanese novel of sorts which actually looks like an Internet forum, complete with posts from fictional netheads and even graphics. It follows the travails of a quiet, nerdy guy who falls for a girl he meets on a train in Tokyo. Not knowing how to ask her out, he asks for help from an Internet forum where anonymous people all help in, pitching in advice bits here and dating tips there.

In terms of movies, rom-coms are among my favorites but I also like the serious ones. One of my ultimate favorites is the monochromatic classic Casablanca. I love the contrast between the sardonic yet sentimental Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and the sweet but tortured Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman). The movie's dark conclusion on the airport runway, along with Rick's trademark swipe at Ilsa ("Here's looking at you, kid."), will always make this movie memorable. Roman Holiday is generally light, fun, predictable and made me pine for my own Vespa. However what makes it a choice pick is the movie's final scene, after Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) ends her press conference and walks out, leaving newsman Joe (Gregory Peck) all alone to traverse an empty hallway. The miniseries version of Pride and Prejudice did not disappoint. Neither did Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle who were both born to play Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett, respectively.

A little drama always makes a movie a little bit more endearing. Who could forget a Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) standing outside Diane Court's (Ione Sky) bedroom window, holding up a boombox playing Peter Gabriel's "In Your Eyes" in the movie Say Anything? Rain also adds a bit more drama to any film. A perfect example is another favorite, the Korean film The Classic where university student Ji-Hae (Son Ye Jin) manages to run from building to building while staying dry, thanks to her secret crush Sang-Min (Jo In Sung), who holds his now-dripping jacket over her head the entire time. The movie itself was actually a good combination of both light and heartbreaking scenes. By the end, I actually felt rather bipolar in a nice way. In the tradition of quirky rom-coms, Tootsie will always be cute, endearing and everything adorable. But my top pick would have to be the superstar-packed Love, Actually, a movie I love watching over and over again courtesy of Hugh Grant dancing, Andrew Lincoln playing Christmas carols on a radio for Keira Knightley while flipping flashcards, Colin Firth slow typing and mumbling awkward Portuguese when he proposes to Lucia Moniz with the entire community in attendance...the list never ends.

To complete the schmaltz attack and the Valentine fever, music has to enter the picture. Apo Hiking Society's Panalangin is easy on the ears yet bursting with optimism, especially in the new version of the song courtesy of Moonstar88. One of my favorites, Take That's Back for Good, has poetic prose for lyrics while Jon McLaughlin's So Close is, well, enchanting. Side A's Forevermore is one of my ultimate favorite love songs as it is brimming with hope and promise. I keep my fingers crossed that someday, I'd get the chance to sing it for one or two of my best friends on their respective (future) altar dates. That and, maybe, Endless Love (we could borrow Mr. Schuster for a while).

Love songs though do not always have to be sweet and sappy. I also like stirring, emotive songs sung by hauntingly beautiful voices such as You're Still You by Josh Groban, Every Little Thing by Dishwalla and Yuki no Hana (Snowflower) by Japanese singer Mika Nakashima. But in terms of a song being both "haunting" and "beautiful," no other song fits the description to a perfect G-clef other than You by The Carpenters. There is nothing grand about the music or the lyrics. As a matter of fact, it is the song's innate simplicity that makes it absolutely perfect in my scale (pun absolutely intended). After all, lines like "You are one who makes me happy" and "You are one of the few things worth remembering" are certainly quite tough to beat as they are rather plain to see but beautiful when heard.

Fine.

Remembering the Summer of '09

It's June 10, Wednesday. 11:30 in the evening.

I am writing this inside my grandmother's dimly lit hospital room. The nurse has just brought in a bag of blood for her blood transfusion and while I'm typing this, I struggle with my goosebumps as I try not to look at the bag which now looks like a giant squid with only two tentacles. The summer vacation which bluntly ended last week with my disaster class grants and my hasty departure for Manila due to enrollment issues has been given a new lease of exactly a week (no) thanks to a global health issue simply labelled as A(H1N1).

This, I suppose, has given me an additional opportunity to look back and acknowledge how different and, in the words of my Tita Vilma, how diverse, the summer of 2009 has been for me. Who thought that a lot of things could happen in a span of a little over two months and I did not need to fly out of the country, soak myself in some foreign sun and eat something alien to my gastrointestinal tract just to make this summer memorable, unforgettable and, of course, sentimentally significant. I will devote this entry to make the events of recent months as vivid as the rains which kept the days drenched in a bid to work my way around the erstwhile traitor that is memory. After all, the summer of 2009 had a healthy and proportional mix of both fun and serious matters which kept me straddling that thin line between helium balloons and the bricks of inevitability.

1. Summer, sickness and role reversal

There was absolutely one reason why I had to go back to my coastal city home for the summer: to take care of my ailing grandfather. As I had written in my previous blog entries, my grandfather has been paralyzed from the waist down due to total nerve compression. He cannot get up on his own and needs to be turned every 2 hours or so and he frequently experiences excruciating pain along his lower back.
A case of complicated UTI compounds his health problems along with other ailments concerning his lungs, his liver and his heart.

What makes his situation more heartbreaking is the fact that he is still very much alert but his physical body serves to confine him to his bed. In his so-called "good days," he tries to maintain some semblance of normalcy by still going to his office and personally attends to a lot of work-related problems.

The entire summer saw me practically living in the hospital as my grandfather was wheeled in and out of admission with a certain degree of frequency that he eventually earned the monicker "balikbayan" among the nurses and staff. To add a more interesting angle to our hospital stay, my grandmother was also hospitalized within a week after my arrival due to pneumonia. She was allowed to share a room with my grandfather and she often walked around the room while dragging her IV tubes after her like a steel-and-plastic Christmas tree.
As if having two patients was not enough to give me a crash course on practical nursing, my own mother was hospitalized a few weeks after my grandmother got better! She had severe abdominal pain due to obstruction which in turn was attributed to intestinal adhesions. It got so bad to the point that her consulting physicians (a.k.a. my dad and his doctor-friend) were contemplating surgery. Everyday for about a week, I had to traverse ten rooms just to check on my grandfather and walk all the way back to my mother (who was curled like a ball in her bed due to severe abdominal pain) to give her a quick report on how he was doing.
The summer went by like a routine but we did our best to make the days a little cheerier. Who knew that white could be such a drab color? During instances when our patients would be napping, we would catch a couple of Pinoy flicks or other English titles that I missed. Every so often, my sister and I would go for a quick break by going out of the hospital to commit the greatest form of gastronomic sacrilege in the history of fast food - washing down Jollibee french fries with a McDonald's Coke float. Of course, my karma came in the form of a noted increase in the size of my thighs. I also met a deluge of wonderful people who had the gentlest of hearts and the brightest of smiles (such as a wonderful person named Lani from rehab who is my grandfather's therapist and this nurse whose name I forget who paid extra attention to my mother when she was in pain).
However there is ont really good thing about this summer that saw the reign of the antiseptic. I got to be part of a great rigodon of roles in my family. My grandparents and my mother had spent a significant portion of their lives taking care of me and fretting over me when I got sick and now it was time to switch seats. This time, it was our turn to give back after many years of simply receiving. Most days were difficult, especially when you find yourself sitting beside helplessness as you watch a face contort in pain. For my part, I found that there was a profound sense of joy and fulfillment in keeping watch over someone who used to keep an eye out for me and a infusion of courage and wisdom in knowing that despite the presence of pain and difficulty, there is a beautiful rainbow to look forward to.
2. American Idol Upset

This season, I was really, really, really rooting for Danny Gokey with a lunacy beyond that of a normal 25-year old. I was so upset over his failure to make it to the finals that I didn't watch the elimination results show (I had gotten wind of the bad news earlier in the day thanks to a friend) and I made my way through the rest of the day in a daze. The finale night was a bit anti-climactic but Kris gave Adam a good whallop. Kris Allen's victory over the flamboyant Adam Lambert was a shocker but overall, it was the best results show I had ever seen from one of the most talented batches in the show's history. Now I'll just sit pretty and wait patiently for Danny and Allison Iraheta's solo albums.
3. Betty's First Birthday

I was so excited when I found out my best friend Doi's daughter Sariah Beatriz was turning a year old. After all, Betty was the first baby to be born within my circle of closest friends and I had always known that Doi was ecstatic about being a mother. Betty is growing up to be an intelligent, curious and precocious little girl with the best comedic timing for a toddler. I sure cannot wait to see where life will take her - and her proud parents too.
4. Encore for the Ballerina

About ten years ago, my sister was deadset on pursuing a career as a professional ballet dancer until she realized it was not the best path for her to take. When she decided to stop dancing, I felt as if I lived in a totally different world. After all, my sister had been dancing ever since she was five and the sudden disappearance of smelly toe shoes, rolls of Leukoplast, gel bottles, Spraynet canisters, holey tights and old Tchaikovsky CDs took some time to get used to.
However, several doors have been reopened for her to enter the world of dance once more. For instance, this summer she had been hoping for a much quieter existence but after an invitation to join her former ballet teacher's summer dance recital was afforded to her, she immediately accepted it. After all, it was a chance for her not just to do something which she has always wanted to do but it was also a new opportunity to renew ties with close friends, a couple of which have gone on to pursue careers as dancers with Ballet Philippines and Ballet Manila.
Watching her do her trademark turns on that stage was like a breath of fresh air. My sister's love for dancing has a raw intensity which is rarely found in a lot of dancers. I know parting from her toe shoes was a major heartbreak as she lived, slept, ate and walked in the world of pirouettes, grand jetaes, arabesques, pas de deuxs and other fancy French words. She had a love-hate relationship with dancing. She revelled in the artistic fulfillment and the applause but struggled with many things - her weight, her so-called "bad feet," numerous injuries and her self-esteem which she had lost many times but she has thankfully regained through time. When she is on that stage, there is a ferocity at the edge of her smile and a happiness that is unmistakeably clear. I am glad that at this point in her life, she has been given a new lease in her chosen craft with a deeper, more profound reason for making those splits in mid-air: her faith.
5. Book dates
I decided that this summer was going to be the time for my dates with my favorite writers. I had originally scheduled reading about two to three books a week, a goal which I never followed because of my hospital duties. During the entire course of the summer, I only managed to read a measly four books, one of which was a repeat. I did get to finish Audrey Niffenegger's "The Time Traveller's Wife" which I thoroughly enjoyed because of its direct but intricate prose. I also read "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown just so I could watch the movie without committing the common mortal sin of book-to-movie projects. I'd say I enjoyed this book far better than "The Da Vinci Code" (which I read in secret during one of my MS classes) because of an interest in the works of Bernini and Galileo (and Milton too!) which figured prominently in the book. I also did my nth revisit of "Pride and Prejudice" which is my favorite Austen work, no matter that my professed fascination for the novel has made my friend Edmund conclude that I, indeed, am a girl. No summer would be complete without a date with Nicholas Sparks which I did through "The Lucky One." The novel was trademark Sparks, nothing fancy or different but still heart-tugging. I did get a kick out of imagining Adrien Brody as Logan and Amy Adams as Beth, the main protagonists, even if the book descriptions did not match any of them with precision.
Right now, I am in the middle of Jodi Picoult's "Change of Heart" which I found to be thoroughly interesting (as always with anything by the author) but the rest of my summer days were filled with other important things as well, so I had to part ways with the sheets of paper just for a while.
6. Getting the perfect summer tan
Of course, being a severe lover of water, summer means hitting the waves and getting pruny while baking my skin to a crisp. Despite the hospital shifts, I did manage to squeeze in a bunch of trips to the beach. During the long Labor Day weekend, I joined Ate Carol, Iting, Ross, Kuya Stan and Mark in Boracay. The rains were torrential and made the 6-hour bus ride to Caticlan dreary. Snorkelling was a challenge since I felt like a cork bobbing helplessly in the water and it did not help that my life jacket's styro packs were getting dislocated, no thanks to the huge waves. When we got out of the water, Kuya Stan even told me he was going to sell his "uber slightly used snorkel." Sitting on the boat when we went island hopping felt like being on board a more subdued thrill ride as our boat crashed into the waves every so often. I tried parasailing for the first time with Ate Carol and it felt wonderfully relaxing as I floated along, sandwiched between the sapphire sea and the blue sky. The bumpy speedboat ride though to get to the parasailing spot stress tested my inner balance (and my derriere's capacity to absorb direct impact) and I found myself on the verge of motion sickness which I rarely experience. In this Boracay visit, I also found a lot of satisfaction when I was not in the water thanks to my early morning walk alone on the beach and another early morning trek to Boracay's highest point with Ate Carol, Iting and Mark.

For a quick beach fix within the confines of the city, another destination was Anhawan Resort in Oton. The sand was nowhere as fine as Boracay or the water as blue but it still was the perfect place to relax and unwind. As a matter of fact, Manang Gracious and I found it to be the perfect spot to take some snaps.

7. Visitors and tour guides
This summer, we welcomed a bunch of visitors into our home. Early on, my sister's friend Maricor had dropped by for a quick visit. I enjoyed having her around since she is as crazy as my sister and has the same adventurous streak too. Even if she technically does not fall under the category of a visitor, I was glad that Manang Apple was also home for a couple of months.
Faye, a friend from GCF in Ortigas, was also in town for a teaching stint. After a number of postponements, we finally did get to meet up and I thoroughly enjoyed being some sort of a tour guide for her. She told me she had not been to a lot of places around the city so I decided to take her some place outside of the city for lunch. We had our meal in my current favorite food joint - Allan's in Oton. It turns out that Faye loves oysters (and seafood!) as much as I do so I ordered two plates of Allan's trademark baked oysters (one for each of us) along with fish and squid. Oh boy, did we wipe our plates clean!
I also discovered that Faye had a flair for architecture and in my part of the world, we had our fair share of old churches, Spanish-era houses and other interesting buildings. I took Faye to St. Anne's Church in Molo, the sinamay dealer's house in Arevalo, Nelly Garden and the other homes owned by the Lopezes along Luna Street and Central Philippine University where we had an interesting picture taken near the University Church by mounting Faye's camera on two monobloc chairs stacked on top of each other. I tried my best to play the part of Faye's tour guide, offering bits and pieces of information which (hopefully) only a local would know. If only we had more time, I would have wanted to bring her to the Jaro Cathedral, San Jose Church, Downtown, Fort San Pedro and the beautiful stone churches in Miag-ao and Tigbauan. That made me realize that there were actually a lot of things which visitors would find interesting about my home city and I thought I should set aside some time to reacquaint myself with a place I may have given inadequate attention to.
By the end of May, my family and I shared our home with someone we had not seen in eight long years - my cousin James from Houston. I've seen him in four different instances in his life: as a three-year old with (in his words) a temper, as a hyperactive ten-year old when I visited Texas, as a lanky fourteen-year old piano whiz and now, a 22-year old college graduate. James has grown so much through the years, both in terms of height and maturity, but he still retains so many traits which make him endearing. His sense of humor has remained intact and he still cracks the craziest (and most sarcastic) of jokes. He is great with conversations (which could stretch until way past 2 A.M.) and is very honest and straightforward. He has yet to prove that he is indeed a "dog whisperer" but he has sure made a convert out of me as far as the TV show "The Office" is concerned. All in all, I sure enjoyed having a "younger brother" around.

8. Love in the month of May

After eleven years of being together, my cousin Nene Loida and her boyfriend Manong George were finally married! Whew, I couldn't believe they had been together that long! Her wedding was originally scheduled around August but because of my grandfather's condition, the ceremony was moved to May. She asked me to be a candle sponsor and I had to go on a crash diet in order to fit into a gown I wore eight years ago. Within less than two weeks, I quit the diet and instead asked a seamstress to transform the gown into a corset so that I could adjust it according to my current size.
The wedding was intimate but there was enough room for spontaneity to become the perfect family affair. The wedding reception ended with the members of the entourage hitting the dance floor with our own version of "Jai Ho" and as I watched my newest cousin-in-law twirl Nene Loida around, I truly felt happy that she had found the person she was to spend the rest of her life with.
Love and all its intricacies is truly a lesson that one learns through time. "I love you" is not an expression to be thrown around casually as the word signifies more than just emotion but a deep-seated passion for the best to be brought out of every person who comes within contact and for complete acceptance to be a natural consequence. Inasmuch as love is a word pregnant with immense sacrifice and responsibility, it is interesting to note that it usually starts with nothing grandiose - a glance here, a smile there, a quiet conversation in the silence of the night - all in the most unexpected of places or situations. Thus getting to know the other person is actually an adventure in itself already. Only time can tell where everything is headed but sometimes, even if the story has yet to reach its ending, the journey itself is beautiful enough to be retold, the memory is special enough to be revisited and the lessons learned are too precious to be forgotten.
This may be my girly side rearing her head again but in the name of pink unicorns, I do hope for a happy ending everytime.
9. Revisiting Mangatarem
James and I went on a road trip with Tita Vilma and Tito Danny to the hometown of our respective parents. It was one thing to go back to a place which holds a significant part of my identity. It is another thing to take that trip back with one person who has never been there before.
I was surprised to know that James had never been to Mangatarem before. For my part, I don't get to visit my father's hometown very often but I had accumulated a significant amount of memories from the place - flying my first kite there at age three, playing with plastic teacups in the front yard, dangling from a tree branch in the front yard, sitting beside my Mamang and watching her unbraid her long hair, attending Simbang Gabi with my entire family for my Papang's 90th birthday and falling asleep half the time because I couldn't understand a shred of Pangasinan. The minute I entered their house in Torres Bugallon with half a Calasiao puto still in my mouth, I could hear Papang singing "Pilipinas Kong Mahal" and my grandmother reciting "O Captain, My Captain." Their scent lingered about the house and even if I didn't spend a huge fraction of my life here, I still felt like this place was home. I took James to the second floor where he saw his mom's graduation picture along with our other aunts and uncles.
Standing before my grandparents' graves, I wondered what they'd tell me and James if they had the chance to talk to us. I'd want to know what they thought of us now that we were no longer children, now that we were trying to find our own respective places in this planet. I would want to know if they would be proud of what we have become because I am truly proud to be called their granddaughter.

10. Faith
Before proceeding to Mangatarem, we first dropped by Manaoag for James to start with his novena. I took in the quietness of the church and started to pray as I sat beside Tita Vilma. When I was done, I looked around and saw people on their knees with prayer booklets, rosaries, candles. Their eyes were closed, their hands were clasped. I can only surmise as to what went through their minds at that moment but there was one thing I was certain of: people cling to their faith in times when the sky is overcast.

Overall, the past couple of months have been a test of faith for me and my family. I practically have dog-eared the page of my Bible which contains Romans 8:28. The Lord works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose. In the moments of laughter and the sunniest of days, God has been so good. In the midst of the difficulty, the frustration, the grief and the disappointment, God is still good. It is a truth which I have come to comprehend with greater understanding in the past couple of months. I have faith in God's goodness, in God's promises and in God's nature. He is good all the time and every time, through rainclouds or sunshine, through the days of light and night, through the moments when the snow comes in spring and the rains come in summer.

Of Driving, Doi, Disco, Danny, Diets and a Despedida

My sister got her DRIVING permit today. Actually it's just a student's permit, her second try after she completely ignored her first one years ago and it lapsed into nothingness. Anyhow, it entitles her to use the car in the city's main thoroughfares as long as she has a licensed driver with her. She took the car out today and drove from my mom's office to our house. I would say that was the longest car ride I have been on although she was quick to point out it was as scary for her when I was learning how to drive myself. I made a mental thought to wear a neck brace the next time she sits in front of the wheel as she slams on the brakes too hard and I'm afraid of snapping my neck off my head. Given our current hospital engagements, none of us are available to teach her how to drive so my parents think she should attend DRIVING school. My sister is horrified at the thought while I told her to cheer up because she will at least get some kind of formal education in terms of DRIVING. But then I do shudder at the thought of having some complete stranger teach me how to drive. The road, with all its hazards, is enough to make me nervous. Add a complete stranger in the front seat and the pressure mounts. In the meantime, I feel there is a need to warn pedestrians and other fellow drivers that my sister is bound to hit the road anytime thus they should keep their eyes peeled for the newest road menace!
Last Sunday, my best friend DOI's daughter Sariah Beatriz turned a year old! I asked to be relieved of my hospital duties on that afternoon and I drove myself to Betty's party in their home in Leganes. DOI has been married two years but I still cannot believe she's a mother! When I see Betty, I cannot believe that this precocious little girl came from her! Betty had absolutely no stranger anxiety (just like her mother) and even if all she could muster were syllables, she yakked on throughout the entire afternoon as if everything she spouted was comprehensible. I gave Betty two books for her birthday and she ought to get used to that because I'll be giving her books birthday after birthday until DOI tells me to stop. Watching my friend fuss over her little daughter was something I wouldn't trade for the world and I am glad she is with two more people she can really call her own.

It's DISCO night in American Idol! The night wasn't as hopping as I expected it to be and to be honest, I did get a bit disappointed as the night was not marked with the 70s spirit. But tonight's show bolstered my earlier remark that this year's batch of contestants is indeed oozing with talent. I really love them all and everytime someone gets booted off the show, I feel really bad about it. For some reason, none of them really performed to the level that knocked my eardrums to outer space. Adam Lambert's performance was good but it still couldn't hold a light to what "Tracks of My Tears" did for me. As for DANNY Gokey, I love him no matter what he does ("bilang fan niya ako" to quote Joey) and I do agree with Paula that his voice is sexy. My mom derives great joy from making fun of DANNY and watching my face crumple like crepe paper. I just want to see him, Allison and Adam in the Top 3 and from that point onward, I'll be as objective as I can.
I hate DIETS. I've never actually tried one but the thought of not being able to eat anything my stomach yearns for is disheartening! Now it looks like I'll actually have to start going on a DIET. My cousin Loida told me I'll be part of her wedding entourage. Her wedding was originally scheduled on August but because of my grandfather's health, she and her fiance George decided to move the wedding to an earlier date. She asked me to use the gown I wore in my grandparents' wedding anniversary so that I'd go with the motif. The thing is, I last wore that gown EIGHT YEARS AGO! I tried fitting the dress again tonight and I felt like Scarlett O'Hara in her corset with twice the pulling. Yikes! The wiry things in the gown were sticking into my sides like chopsticks and skewering me! Double yikes! Maybe I could get through the wedding without moving if that were possible. The reception, however, will be at Roadhouse where the alfredo is creamy, the fish fillet is delightful and the ox tongue melts in your mouth. Gosh, I'm feeling so down. I wanna rummage through the ref for some raisinets now.
It's 11:15 according to my watch which means one thing - Manang Apple is flying over the South China Sea bound for Hong Kong where she will take another flight to Heathrow. My sister and I organized an impromptu DESPEDIDA for her yesterday. We had a huge pizza from Dos Marias, spaghetti in a bilao and chicken wings. I wish she didn't have to go back. Her three children obviously have the same thing in mind also. Everytime she comes home, she is met by great excitement and anticipation but when the time comes for her to leave, the events are nothing short of heartbreaking. I do hope the heartbreak and the DESPEDIDAs all come to an end very soon and that she can finally go home - to wherever her children are.

A Night of Reel Music

I love music and I love movies. Thus a fusion of both is always a treat. I am hoping "Idol" will have the Broadway theme again this season just like last year but while I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that, I'll take a night of movie theme songs anytime. With the range of choices, a contestant is bound to end up with either a jackpot or a huge mistake in terms of song choice.

Tonight, I don't think Lil Rounds and Matt Giraud fared very well. Lil sang Bette Midler's "The Rose" and I would say it was not as bad a song choice as the judges thought it was but her performance was rather rough. She was going off-key in one too many places and I seriously thought that in one way or another, it was like "Surrender" all over again in the sense that I thought she was having difficulty with the song. Neither did Matt do well with "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" from Don Juan de Marco. He seemed to have vocally tangled himself up in all the runs he was doing and like Lil, he was always going off pitch. The bridge did not sound too well with him sounding like he was struggling with the pitch, the tune and even his runs. I'm not sure who among them both would end up going home since Matt is not as popular as the other contestants and I am not sure if after weeks of Lil not performing up to judges' expectations, her fanbase is still pretty strong.

Allison Iraheta, Kris Allen and Danny Gokey fall into my "okay" group. Kris did a song called "Falling Slowly" which I had never heard before. I have never really been a huge fan of Kris's voice and for me, this song didn't really bring out the side of his vocal ability which I liked. I think if he sang it in a lower pitch, I might have liked his performance.

Allison and Danny sang two of my favorite love songs. Allison picked the Aerosmith power ballad "I Don't Wanna Miss a Thing" from the movie Armageddon. I really love the original version so I tend to make comparisons. On its own merits, Allison's performance was pretty good. She now ranks among my top 3 favorites and her voice literally blows me away. I just had a problem with the fact that I have heard one too many versions of this song and Allison's performance was not exactly a standout. Danny sang "Endless Love," which, as I said, is really one of my ultimate favorites. He started okay although at one point, he did go off key. I loved his emotional connection with the audience (and did I say, with me?) and that really is his asset. I was glad that he did not depart from the original version since I am very conservative when it comes to my old favorites. However as much as it was his boon, it also was his bane. The performance came across as very safe and nothing extraordinary so, like Simon, I too was disappointed.

Adam Lambert was, once again, in a world of his own as he shattered through the night of ballads with "Born to be Wild." The night saw him literally jumping back to his histrionics but I was glad he did tone down the screaming tonight. But then the man is, as I have said one to many times, an entertainer and he makes every bit of radiation exposure from the TV all worth it.

My favorite performance of the evening belongs to Anoop Desai who sang "I Do It For You" from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. This song holds a particularly soft spot for my sister and me since Robin Hood was the movie which marked our first jump from Betamax to laser disc. We both loved singing along to the song (with the matching air guitar playing) before we got to the opening credits of the film. Anoop's rendition of the song was, in a word, beautiful. I was crushing the pillow I was hugging into nothingness. His voice was smooth and rich and I totally and absolutely loved his version of the song. I HEART ANOOP again!

Perspective Reorganization

I've been home for barely a week.

In a rather strange/funny twist of a consequence, I've also barely spent time at home ever since I got back. The only time I'm with my entire family is either during breakfast or dinner. My dogs probably wonder why I'm gone in the morning and come home late at night. And I keep forgetting to tell my mom that the fresh coat of green paint she had applied on one wall in my room is not as bad as it looks from the earlier pictures she sent me through MMS.

As a lot of people know, my grandfather has been in the hospital for the past two weeks. He has been wheeled in and wheeled out like this for the last three months. Before I came home, the last time I saw him was in January. He was doing very well and could hoist a Monobloc chair by himself, limping gait and all. Now he's confined to a hospital bed 24/7 and I have to get used to the fact that he cannot even scratch his own foot when it feels itchy. To be honest about it, scratching his foot is just one of the less serious things he can no longer do.

In another stranger/funnier twist to our current hospital adventure, my grandmother also got sick with pneumonia last Wednesday! The doctors allowed both my grandparents to be confined in the same room although my grandfather's constant infusion with steroids makes him predisposed to infection thus the need to keep the room's built-in plastic dividers constantly unfolded. It does get pretty hilarious at times, especially when I sit in one corner of the room and I see two beds with two people lying in them and IV tubes snaking about in metal poles right beside them. Sometimes when my grandmother needs to go to the bathroom, she drags her IV along with her and stops about 6 feet away from my grandfather and starts waving. In fact, my sister and I are planning on making them one of those can-and-string contraptions so that they don't have to shout at each other all the time. For the meantime, we make them sing duets and I think it becomes some form of lung exercise. Sometimes I get the feeling that the nurses wonder if we do have an idea of how serious my grandparents' respective medical conditions can get but then, just like Patch Adams, we believe laughter is a really good form of medicine. After all, in occasions such as this, I have learned that it really helps to couple one's faith with a huge dose of humor just so the "ups" rise higher than they normally could and the "downs" are not as low as expected.

Actually other lessons have been learned in the process. I do not think of this as a form of escapism. I'd like to call it something like perspective reorganization, a fancy term for what others may call viewing the glass as half full when it can also be seen as half empty. I do not deny that there are a lot of things going around which can make the heart seem heavier but I refuse to be weighed down by negativity. My cousin Striker took me out to dinner tonight in Maki with his girlfriend right after his hospital shift ended at 9 PM. It was good to finally get out of the hospital and have some fresh tempura and as he drove me home, I exchanged more stories about chewy cookies, sotanghon, baked oysters and fried chicken with his girlfriend who, apparently, was a foodie just like him! That (and a vision of Mrs. Fields cookies on a plate) certainly worked to ease the stress, tiredness and frustration off my shoulders. Next time maybe we can go out for some nai cha after every shift.

Apart from that, here is a rundown of the other good things about practically living in the hospital:

* New version of family reunions
- My entire family usually gets together on birthdays, weddings or holidays or other occasions which call for a celebration. This time around, my family came up with a shift schedule wherein we each take 4-hour shifts to keep an eye out for our two senior patients. This is just to make sure that at least one person is on hand to be with the both of them. But that does not mean you can't drop by during another person's shift. For instance, last week and yesterday, I got to spend some time with Manang Apple since I've really missed hanging out with her. I also get a kick out of playing matchmaker when it comes to Manang Gracious and a certain other person. Sometimes, M.B., one of my cousins, joins us vicariously when she entertains my grandfather's request to play old love songs in her morning radio show. The best day of the week comes when a family member brings food like pancit and arroz caldo...although there is no greater hit than Aiyi's truly amazing taco pizza which, I believe, is making me pudgy! Yum!

* Catching up on reading
- During my shift, when my two wards are in lullaby land, I do two things: catch up on my reading and the movies I've missed. I've been on an Audrey Niffenegger hiatus since January and I am soooo happy to be finally reunited with Clare and Henry. When I'm done, I'll be seeing some Jodi Picoult, David Baldacci, Mary Higgins Clark and Nicholas Sparks. Yehey for the bookworm!

* DVD marathons
- My grandmother loves to watch movies, especially anything which stars KC Concepcion. So I've seen "For the First Time" one too many times for comfort. I also have some musical selections for her like "Hairspray" and "Mamma Mia," both of which she really enjoyed. Tomorrow we'll probably be watching another Tagalog flick and it will surely be interesting because my grandmother does not speak Tagalog. Neither does she understand the language. Yipee for the team of translators!

* American Idol with guest judges
- Last week it was different to watch American Idol with my grandparents. My grandmother was ranting about how she didn't get my taste in music or TV shows. For instance, she looked baffled when my sister and I did a standing O for Adam Lambert. She thought he was from Ghostbusters or something like that. My grandfather, on the other hand, was more critical than Simon Cowell as he made thumbs down gestures at the end of every number. He fell asleep halfway through the show, though. Yahoo!

* Bonding with our Creator
- It's great to bond with my grandparents over a meal or a good conversation. But nothing beats praying together. I've never really prayed with my grandparents on a one-on-one basis before. Throughout the week, I sat on my grandfather's bedside and I read to him from my Bible. If I was up to it, I'd ask him questions. Sometimes he'd answer me, sometimes he'd tell me to read on. Sometimes he'd finish the passage for me, just like what he did in the morning of Good Friday when I was reading a passage about the two thieves crucified with Jesus in Calvary. The word "paradise" all together had a brand new meaning for the two us. Yes indeed!

* A 58-year old love team
- Come June 11, my grandparents will officially hit the the 58-year mark of being married to each other. Their marriage hasn't been perfect, that's for sure. What amazes - or surprises me - is that after 58 years of being together, they can still wake up in the morning with new realizations about each other. Yihee!

* Giving back
- Call this a case of role reversal. My grandparents have given their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren so much. It's time for us flip the coin or put the car on reverse. At the point of our lives when we needed them, they were always there for us. Taking care of them is, for me, not an obligation. It is as natural as a river taking its proper course - in the same way that in a person's life, everything has to run through the same route.

iTuned In (As Usual)

So Wednesday night comes again - that time of the week when I shut out the world for two whole hours and it's just me, the couch, the TV and my text buddy Joey. But first a quick rewind to last week. Motown night was a blast and I still couldn't get over the performances. I absolutely loved Matt Giraud's soulful take on Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" but top prize went to Adam Lambert's subdued and controlled rendition of "Tracks of My Tears." Michael Sarver did not give the worst performance (that distinction goes to Megan Joy who gave me ear hemorrhage if there is such a specie) but it was no surprise that it was the oil rig worker, and not the font designer, who was sent home.

With iTunes night, there was definitely no dearth in terms of song choices. As long as the song was a top download in the iTunes register, it was up for grabs. In addition, this was another opportunity for them to sound relevant and contemporary and also for the viewers to get an idea as to what kind of singer they will be if they do make it to the recording biz. But with a range of songs that wide to choose from, it can also work to one's disadvantage as it can give hints as to the singer's creativity and flexibility as a performer. From my perspective it is also important to pick a song which showcases the singer's range and personality but still remain distinct from the original artist's version.

With nine people left onstage, it becomes easier to categorize the performances. I'll start with the "middle 3" a.k.a the ones who sang all right - Lil Rounds, Allison Iraheta and Scott MacIntyre.

Scott's vocals have never really been overly impressive but I have always liked his voice quality. Singing "Just the Way You Are" brought that out rather well. He was not amazing but his performance was very good. Allison is also one of my favorites and her rocker chick getup was not as distracting as the judges (or Joey, for the matter) thought. I also loved her song pick (No Doubt's "Don't Speak" which is one of my sister's favorite songs) but she did sound a little too much like Gwen Stefani so I don't think she brought anything new to it. As for Lil, she is (still) frustrating. I loved her audition and I also thoroughly enjoyed her Top 36 performance but everything has been sort of downhill from that point. I am still waiting for her to take one song and rip it into a million of shreds because with a voice as big as that and a personality to boot, she can do it. That perfect song just seems elusive for Lil Rounds at this point. Celine Dion's "Surrender" was not right for her. There were times when she sounded a little too nasal for comfort and other times when she seemed to struggle. She did soar on the big notes though and I think that, and the swooping camera, worked to her advantage.

The "bottom" three a.k.a. the endangered ones would include Megan Joy, Matt Giraud and Anoop Desai. After two weeks of making me swoon like a schoolgirl, everything came to a screeching halt for Anoop. He chose to sing Usher's "Caught Up" and did he have huge shoes to fill! Usher is the total performer and is smooth in terms of both the dance moves and the vocals. Anoop, for the life of me, has the voice but not the groove. I did not get any bit of that toughie, gangsterish gloating (which we last saw in his performance of "Beat It" three weeks ago) and I don't think it worked to make his performance any better.
Megan Joy was a letdown. Last week she was not good at all. She didn't hit the high notes that she was supposed to hit at all and she was sort of getting all over the place. This week was no improvement. It wasn't as horrible as last week in terms of technique but her performance was so boring I felt my eyes drooping. I think it is about time Megan Joy goes home. I will miss her spunk when she's gone, though.

Matt Giraud also was a disappointment. He decided to go the alternative route this week, taking on The Fray's "You Found Me." That brought me back to the first week when he performed a Coldplay song which was not good. I don't like it at all when Matt starts snarling because he sounds much better when he's all smooth and suave. He sounded A LOT like the original and that, for me, took some points off him.

Now that leaves me with my "top" 3 - Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert and Kris Allen.

Danny didn't deviate so much from The Temptations' original version of "Get Ready" last week. Neither did he sneak in his signature runs - or do anything radically different - in his rendition of Rascal Flatt's "What Hurts the Most" this week. But what made his performance endearing was just the right blend of emotion and power which he injected into the song. He did veer off-key about twice in the course of the song but he more than made up for it. With his unique tone, he was able to make the song his own. I think he should take one week off the power hook and just croon to one sentimental ballad with all vulnerability.

Adam was, in two words, a showman. I love Adam better when he's soft and subdued (like I previously mentioned, his "Tracks of My Tears" performance was simply beautiful). This week, he chose Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music." Joey texted me, "Why is it that it's okay when Adam Lambert gets indulgent?" Maybe, that's because that's when he's most entertaining. Not his best but entertaining. I would prefer that he left his histrionics to the dressing room but I guess since people know he's a theater dude (he was understudy for Fiyero in LA's production of "Wicked"), they allow him to be flamboyant. I just need to turn the volume down a bit low lest my eardrums explode. But over all, I really did enjoy watching him work up the stage.

The night did not end without seeing me become a Kris Allen convert. I seriously doubted the abilities of this worship leader from Arkansas in the initial stage of the competition, but tonight, he really showed his prowess with "Ain't No Sunshine". The arrangement was perfect and his performance was equally great. He is not as vocally gifted as my other top contenders but he picks songs which best show his abilities.

All's Well in Opry

Aside from Christmas and my birthday month, the period from March to around May is another time of year that I look forward to because it's American Idol season. I started watching the show since the first season, got interested in the third season because of Jasmine Trias and Camille Velasco but really got hooked into it in the fourth season (where I cheered for Bo Bice and Carrie Underwood and daydreamed about Constantine Maroulis). My favorite season would have to be season 5 where I was practically nuts about more than two contestants namely, Kevin Covais (yes, I found him irresistible), Katharine McPhee, Chris Daughtry, eventual king Taylor Hicks and my season favorite Elliott Yamin. Last season started off rather slow for me as I found David Cook and David Archuleta way too talented for the other people in the competition so I did not mind missing a couple of weeks of the show. In the end though, I did rejoice when David Cook was proclaimed winner and it was only recently that I replaced "Always Be My Baby" as my phone's call alert.

Tonight was the second batch of performances for the Top 11 contestants in the show's eigth season. This season is fast climbing my own charts as a favorite because of the vast amount of talent which was conspicuously absent last season (and the season before that) along with season eight's huge dose of diversity. In the past, when I download MP3 performances of my favorites, it usually involves four singers tops. Now my regular download list consists of eight people, in my order of preference - Danny Gokey, Adam Lambert, Anoop Desai, Allison Iraheta, Scott MacIntyre, Lil Rounds, Alexis Grace and Megan Joy. But then I download more than eight files when there are good performances from the others who are not in my list.

Take Grand Opry Night for instance. I actually downloaded the MP3s of all the performances because aside from my regular list, I loved the remaining three. After all, the performances were not as bad as Michael Jackson week which saw Jasmine Murray and Jorge Nunez bid the show farewell. What I find more interesting is that my favorites did not shine tonight as much as the ones I usually ignored did.

I was fairly disappointed with Lil Rounds for starters because I really felt like she was holding back and it really affected the way she sang "Independence Day". And the comparison with Carrie Underwood's performance of the Martina McBride song in season 4 was inevitable. She unfortunately fell flat.

Another disappointment was Alexis Grace's rendition of "Jolene." For some reason, I liked Brooke White's version last season better because it was more relaxed and laid back and it seemed to me that Alexis did not look as comfortable as she did when she sang "Never Loved a Man" about four weeks ago.

Allison Iraheta did not disappoint as usual but she was not all "wow" for me tonight. The same comment goes for Scott MacIntyre with his rendition of "Wild Angels". However I am a huge fan of both their voices, especially Scott who has this ability to establish a connection with his audience despite the fact that he cannot do "goo goo eyes" with the camera ala Jason Castro (sorry Joey!). Megan Joy was still unique and interesting when she sang "Walking After Midnight" and I think her bluesy sound will carry her through this week.

My top two favorites did not shine so much tonight as they did last week. After all when the Grand Opry theme was announced, I wondered how these two would hold up. Adam Lambert was...well, he rendered me tongue-tied. The entire Middle Eastern, sitar-infused, Muse-meets-Nine Inch Nails version of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" was verging on that little grey area between strange, funny and creepy. I sat on the couch with one half of my body cringing/recoiling and the other half suffering from seizure because of endless fits of laughter. After his performance, my mother called me to ask what I liked in the guy "with a manicure." Very funny, mom. No matter what Adam does though, he is still very entertaining and his range is unbelievable. He was not as manic when it came to his vocals this week when compared to his almost screamfest version of "Black and White" and his theatrics did work out for me to some extent.

Danny Gokey also proved he was not superhuman tonight. The army of Danny haters are probably celebrating with cheese and champagne tonight so I let them be. "Jesus, Take the Wheel" is one of my favorite songs but is signature Carrie Underwood so that anyone else who sings it usually pales in comparison to the original. Danny did not actually go cyanotic but the first half of the song made me realize how much he needs to work on his low notes, especially in terms of the fluidity and support. But when the chorus swelled, I knew I had the guy I loved back even if he did resemble a polar bear tonight. To all the people who think he was screaming the chorus to smithereens, maybe the volume of your TV sets are set too high. It is called swelling and soul, ladies and gentlemen. So I call out to Joey and Kiyo, if ever you guys read this, I am not biased when it comes to Danny Gokey even if you think so.

I admit though that my real bias rests in Anoop Desai, the college student from Chapel Hill who physically resembles Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Pattel. This bias I share with my fellow Idol freak Joey. Anoop totally crashed big time in Michael Jackson week and I wanted to pull him offstage while he was dancing about with his collar raised. In class today, I told Mini I was hoping Anoop makes it and she answered something like "But he's so bad." I replied "I know but he's so cute." But tonight, he certainly proved he deserved his place in the Top 11 with his beautiful, soulful, soaring rendition of "Always On My Mind." I actually couldn't stop myself from swooning!

Matt Giraud and Kris Allen do not really rank among my favorites. I dismiss Kris as this year's Jason Castro or Ace Young with loads more talent and I love to tease his fans in my class that he sings with his jaw unhinged. But tonight, I loved his vulnerability as he sang "To Make You Feel My Love" sans his guitar. To my surprise, I realized he actually has a very nice, soothing voice and I concede that my comparisons to Jason Castro and Ace Young are misplaced.

Matt was also a pleasant surprise. He took on another Carrie Underwood song and I have to say, his slower version scored more points for me than the original. He stripped the song down to its very core with his beautiful voice and brought it to new heights at just the right point. I am not sure if he did outsing Danny as Simon claimed but I sure cannot wait to hear the studio version.

Who do I think is going home, as if my opinion matters? But then let me pretend I could control "Idol" for a moment now. I think roughneck Michael Sarver is going home...even if I like him also and he seems like a really nice guy and a cool dad at that. He gave the weakest performance tonight and he did not really stand out. But to his credit, I really love replaying his R&B, full-bodied version of "You Are Not Alone" for some reason, especially when I'm stuck in traffic.

Getting into the Twilight Zone

Twilight is perhaps the year's most anticipated movie. The reviews from the US say the movie has "no bite" (though the movie raked in $70 plus million on its opening day) and my friend Banana's short review through text straight from Vegas wasn't exactly glorious. A couple of my classmates caught the first screening in SM Manila and if I were to quote Joey, she confirmed more or less what Banana said: the movie was an acquired taste. Well, it's not like it's the end of the world if the movie wasn't good but I thoroughly enjoyed the series and passed them on to a lot of people including my mother, my best friend, my seatmate in Tax class and even my grandfather's 60-something cardiologist.
As much as my friend Kate was building the Twilight movie hype by sending me book quotes almost everyday for the past month, I was excited about something else - the soundtrack. After all when I was reading the books, only two tunes kept on playing in my head - Claire de Lune and a random Linkin Park song. Now with the soundtrack knocking the socks off my player in an almost daily basis, I can immediately come up with more diverse and interesting substitutes for my two overplayed tracks as I replay certain snippets from the book in my head. Now if the movie supposedly lacks the allure of the printed material, the soundtrack, for me, is almost as thoroughly engaging as Edward Cullen's dazzling golden eyes I almost feel like that poor waitress in the restaurant in Port Angeles. Each CD comes with a Twilight character trading card (I got Edward though I wish I got Alice) and the CD jacket folds out into a six-panel poster of Edward and Bella.
The selection opens with Stephenie Meyer's favorite band Muse. Before I read Twilight, I honestly had no idea of a band named Muse in existence. When the song started playing, I realized I actually missed out on so much. The song "Supermassive Black Hole" perfectly sets the mood, I daresay. With its brash guitars and its eerie-mysterious-dangerous sound, it seemed to adequately reflect the book's mood and and Forks' gloomy sky. Listening to the song got me wondering where I could get my hands on more Muse material as I really liked what I was hearing.
Another notable cut would be Iron and Wine's "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" which I just love listening to before I fall asleep almost every night. The melody is a straightforward walz and the lyrics are cryptic, giving the song that romantic feel with a cool metal edge. But my favorite song to replay would be "Leave Out All the Rest" all perhaps because of a bias for Linkin Park, one of my favorite bands. The song lyrics, much like the other songs in the soundtrack, are very much illustrative of Bella and Edward's relationship, such as when Chester Bennington gets all foreboding (and New Moon-y) as he sings "When the time comes, forget the wrong that I've done, let me leave behind some reasons to be missed."
Paramore has two tracks in the album but I like "Decode" better as Haley soars through the song in almost ethereal fashion, as if she were gliding through trees. I also love listening to the hints of vulnerability in Collective Soul's "Tremble for My Beloved."
Robert Pattinson, the actor formerly known as Cedric Diggory, was given the chance to sing for the soundtrack courtesy of the song "Never Think." Overall it was a commendable effort despite the fact that he did run into a few snags with the notes as he tried to do simple runs. Neither did it help that he mumbled about 3/4 of the lyrics so it was really difficult to figure out what he was trying to get across. I could not help but wonder if the song intro of a lone guitar, which shot past a whole minute, was done on purpose as to further fuel the anticipation of how Pattinson would sound as a singer. He was generally just all right with the vocals, sounding almost like a country rock star, but I need to hear more material from him to be thoroughly impressed and swoony.
The soundtrack ends with Bella's lullaby which, despite being a moving and beautiful piece, did not actually sound much like a lullaby. Nevertheless, the book has taught me to stick to the unconventional and that exactly is "Bella's lullaby". I don't think it is a "one size fits all" kind of lullaby. It is not sweet and mellow in a bubblegum, saccharine sort of way. The lullaby is almost reminiscent of that long, quiet walk a person takes as he traverses that road between consciousness and slumber which usually starts off in a rather wayward fashion then shifts into a more comfortable mood before finally swelling into an overwhelming sense of helplessness and ending with sleep executing its final knock out abruptly and without warning.
Now I can't wait for Saturday so I can finally watch the movie and see for myself how it measures up to the soundtrack.
Twilight Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Atlantic Records
1. Muse - Supermassive Black Hole
2. Paramore - Decode
3. The Black Ghosts - Full Moon
4. Linkin Park - Leave Out All the Rest
5. Mutemath - Spotlight
6. Perry Farrell - Go All the Way
7. Collective Soul - Tremble for My Beloved
8. Paramore - I Caught Myself
9. Blue Foundation - Eyes on Fire
10. Rob Pattinson - Never Think
11. Iron & Wine - Flightless Bird, American Mouth
12. Carter Burwell - Bella's Lullaby

Seriously Freaked

It feels a bit different to be involved in something mundane for a change...especially since my summer break still has me running around restless. But now, I can at least allocate some time to allow my freaky nature to rear its naughty head once in a while. So here goes...just me on being seriously freaked!

****************

She's muh gurl and she'll always be THE gurl!
I am just seriously freaked that Melinda, MELINDA of all people(!), gets the cut in this week's American Idol. No, seriously freaked is not the right thing to say. I think it would be more appropriate to say that I am seriously bereaved I almost feel like reaching for the lacy black veil/shawl nestled within the confines of my mother's closet. What was America possibly thinking - and hearing - last night?! Muh gurl Melinda is the bomb and she deserves that place in the finals - every inch of that stage and every watt of that spotlight! I have liked her and Jordin the most since their respective first auditions but I have to say I have always liked Melinda a bit more than Jordin. Jordin is bubbly, young, pretty and has great pipes but Melinda can sing any song into smithereens. I mean, she blows familiar songs apart and recreates them into something she can claim as her own. And she does all this without a bubble of air in her head and that sincere smile on her face and that makes her totally endearing. My mom and I had it in our guts that she was going to be the next American Idol but all it took was one wrong click in the Yahoo homepage and my cutesy hope gets slashed to bits.
I had been hoping for a Jordin-Melinda slugfest come Wednesday next week. Blake was pretty good last night but he just paled in comparison to the two. Blake is a magician and a circus all rolled into one but he often sings flat (in terms of tremolo and pitch) and his beat boxing becomes his only saving grace.
Melinda, in my opinion, is the overall entertainer without the unnecessary frills and the magic wand. She is nothing but pure unadulterated talent who narrowly missed the standing ovation she justly deserves.

Melinda Doolittle will always be THE gurl to beat!
P.S. If Blake gets the American Idol next week, I think I'll be crawling on the floor with a broken heart. My mother has just threatened to boycott 'Idol' following the Melinda cast-off.
P.P.S. At around this time last year, Elliott Yamin made me cry like a baby. Tonight, he did it again.
P.P.S. Paula looked awfully funny dancing to Maroon 5. Maybe it was because of her dress but from the back, she seemed to looked like Whistler's mother.

****************

He's back and the wait is killing me (pun intended)!
After two years of contenting myself with my MISA DVD replays (please don't ask how many times because I have lost count) and staring at his picture, my favorite Korean actor and one-half ultimate dream squeeze So Ji Sub has just finished his mandatory military service at the district office of Mapo in Seoul. When I was in Seoul two years ago with my dad, I remember wandering across the street from the Mapo District Office by mistake. I still clung to some remnant of sanity, dignity and embarrassment so I quickly ditched the idea of walking into the office, kidnapping So Ji Sub and stuffing him into my luggage with his arms and legs sure to rip the zippers apart. The minute I got home, I almost got clobbered by Sue who did nothing but growl at my face for about five minutes.
Ji-Sub has is about to begin work on a new series with Ji Jin-Hee (of Jewel in the Palace and Spring Days) called Cain and Abel wherein both actors play brothers separated when they were children. Jin-Hee is the older brother who grows up to become a detective hunting down an assassin which actually turns out to be his long-lost younger brother played by Ji-Sub. Well, like I was telling a friend of mine from Singapore who also loves Ji-Sub, I've always thought he'd make one fine, convincing psychopath, killer eyes and all.
Now I'll have something to look forward to on the tube!
For the meantime, MISA will more than suffice. *hugs box of tissues and thinks of taking heart reinforcement pills*

****************

He's so fine and soon the world will see why!
The other half of my ultimate dream squeeze a.k.a Mando-pop star Wang Lee Hom has just embarked on his first international big screen venture - with no less than the acclaimed Ang Lee at the helm of the movie project.

The cast of Lust, Caution with director Ang Lee: (from left to right) Wang Lee Hom, Tang Wei and Tony Leung

A couple of months ago, I heard that Ang Lee was going to direct the movie adaptation of the popular Chinese short story by Eileen Chang called Lust, Caution (�F.‰ú) and that Tony Leung (of In the Mood for Love fame) had been cast as the lead actor. Leung plays government official Yee who works for the puppet government of Japan-controlled Shanghai during the 40s.

Weeks later, in the middle of a rather crazy week, I came across an online article that Wang Lee Hom had been chosen to play the second lead actor and the news got my brain functional again. Wang was to play Kuang Yu-Min, a student, revolutionary and boyfriend to Wang Jia-Zhi (played by newcomer Tang Wei), a spy sent to lure Yee into an assassination trap. I don't know how Lee Hom will do since he's more of a singer than an actor and on top of that, he'll be working side by side with one heck of a pillar Tony Leung!
Today, while acting as travel agent for my entire family, I decided to check if there were pictures from the set of the movie and lo and behold! There were pictures and a link to the first trailer too! I need to get used to Lee Hom's shorter, tidier "Jose Rizal" 'do (which I'm sure his mother would love) but he still looks mighty fine, I didn't even mind that he did not release a new album in December of last year, unlike what he had done for the past two years.


Hmmm...now my sister's birth month has become a bit more interesting this year.

I could get used to Lee Hom looking like this. ^_^

Little Bit of This and That

It's summer so I need to take a break from issues that tend to rip my heart, still beating from my ribcage. The heat is too much to bear but the President's mole is death itself once you stare at it too long. I shall dwell on "lighter" issues.

********************

It's been two week since I decided to drastically alter my 8-month old haircut. It had gone a long way from lip length to armpit length. It had grown huge in an angry, bloated octopus meets Dolly Parton sort of way...just like I had warned that person who cut my hair all in one length a few weeks before I left for Seoul last year. The summer heat was too searing for words so mom decided to get a trim while I got partly possessed by Natalie Portman's character in V for Vendetta. I had about six inches of my hair cut off and as I saw the clumps of hair drift lazily to the floor of the salon, I was almost overcome with unexplained deliriousness.

My mother almost collapsed when she saw me. My niece could not look at me straight in the face without laughing while my sister declared she had a new brother. I, on the other hand, was filled with extreme happiness over a new haircut and a lighter head.

That is, until my 6-year old cousin Lance burst my "I-have-the-best-haircut" bubble by wagging his finger at my face during a family lunch and saying "You look like Gloria Macapagal Arroyo." I wanted to reach for the knife and do hara-kiri.

********************

There are two things which get me a natural summer high...well, aside from hearing "Summer Day" from Barbie Almalbis on the radio. First of all, I take extra pains to keep my hair healthy. The summer heat is doing its damage but I have no fear because of the pink variant from Cream Silk. I don't know about you guys but this has got to be the best conditioner out there. It's cheaper than the competition and works a lot better...and it smells great too!

The other thing I cannot seem to get my hands off would be beaded tsinelas (slippers). I first saw them in Boracay being sold for as much as P300 and I was thinking to myself "Crazy!" A few months later, I go to the mall and I find even better versions of the beaded tsinelas in different colors. I bought two pairs (in different occasions, of course) which I use to saunter around the city nowadays. They are just simply cute and comfortable.

********************

I don't know what's with "T's" this month but I've sure got a lot of it going on...in names of newest crushes, that is. The first "T" must've been long foreseen but, hey, it took me a long, long time getting over Kevin Covais exit from American Idol, I found myself staring out into nowhere, fervently wishing he'd come crashing into the stage after the supposed last contestant has exited. Sadly, no Chicken Little in sight, but I am going nuts over Taylor Hicks A.K.A. the guy who shares Gandalf's silver hair... only shorter and minus the rebond.

He is inferior vocally when compared to Elliot Yamin's flexible pipes but as David Foster pointed out tonight, Taylor has charisma. He has the total performer package and I love the raspy sound to his voice. Some part of him sounds like Bo Bice minus the wink (sighs) with the added head cocking and the raspiness of artists like Rod Stewart. Tonight, he sang James Ingram's "Just Once" and I watched his performance three times (twice in StarWorld and once in ABC5) and each time I was left with this glassy look. My mother could not take watching his performance lying down. She had to sit up and applaud him. Now as I type this, I'm listening to the James Ingram version and downloading the Taylor Hicks live performance. Yes, I believe there is nothing left of me to save now.
If Sue were sitting in front of me today, I would have gotten smacked. It's hard when you've known a person since the time you both wore plastic eyeglass frames (hers was pink, mine yellow) since she almost always guesses what's going roundabout in your head. Like a few months ago when I began saying "I liked the new King Kong movie..." and she immediately screamed "Adrien Brody!" So much for surprise...which brings me to my other "T." This afternoon, I texted her that I was about to add Topher Grace to my list of favorite actors/guys-I-can-never-have-even-if-I-walk-on-my-knees-from-the-church-entrance-to-the-altar-ten-times. She immediately texted back "You watched Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!" even if she was in the middle of work training. She eventually got reprimanded for texting me but anyhow, she almost smacked because I told her I never did get to watch That 70s Show and I totally regret it now. But that gives me more reason to watch out for Spiderman 3 (yay!) while waiting for reruns of That 70s Show. Tad Hamilton was not exactly revolutionary in the romantic-comedy genre but I love Topher's character Pete. I have always greatly preferred wit over rock-hard abs! As he claims, he could win wrestling matches and swordfights using his rhetoric alone!

********************

In other AI news, for the first time this season, I no longer get severe convulsions and fits of anger when watching AI...thanks to Ace Young getting the kick. Now I expect to get threats of mutilation from heartbroken girls.

********************

Okay, I am not all cynical and emotionally detached as most people would like to think. As a matter of fact, I am a (closet) romantic although I wish flowers and teddy bears should be permanently deleted from the list of best gifts to to give women. One time, my sister and I were talking about what gift a girl would consider to be most romantic. I wanted to answer "An opportunity to swim with dolphins!" but I knew that would be a little over the top so I mentioned the next best gift in my opinion - "A book." She stared at me as if I had just become an undiscovered organism which reveals itself during routine root canal procedures.

But anyway, there are three songs I cannot help but listen to over and over again without getting sick. One would be Josh Groban's "When You Say You Love Me." The ending always gets to me: "When you say you love me, do you know how I love you?" The lyrics are nothing new but the way Josh Groban sings it is just refreshing it feels as if some minty breeze has enveloped me.

Another is the Japanese version of Wang Lee Hom's "If You Heard My Song." I don't understand a single word Lee Hom sings in that song but he gives the words natural life when he does it...not to mention the guy's got one of the best, most soothing voices in the world. The Japanese version is a lot more laid back and relazxed compared to the Mandarin version and it seems to overflow with sincerity and sadness. Bad thing though is after I listen to it, I usually feel like reaching for the box of tissues beside me.

The last song would be Dishwalla's "Every Little Thing." When it comes to love songs, I find that rock/alternative bands always come up with the best stuff overall. Pop love songs almost always come across as too sugary for me that I sometimes feel like choking. I like the entire approach to "Every Little Thing," with the somewhat subdued musical accompaniment and the rather breathy way JR Richards sings it.

"Every Little Thing"

Let me in
to see you in the morning light
to get me on and all along the tears they come
See all come
I want you to believe in life
But I get the strangest feeling that you've gone away
Will you find out who you are too late to change?

I wish I could be
every little thing you wanted
all the time.
I wish I could be
every little thing you wanted
all the time,
Sometimes.

Lift me up
Just lift me up don't make a sound
And let me hold you up before you hit the ground
See all come
You say you're all right
But I get the strangest feeling
That you've gone away- you've gone away
And will you find out who you are too late to change?

I wish I could be
Every little thing you wanted
All the time
I wish I could be
Every little thing you wanted
All the time,
Sometimes.

Don't give me up
Don't give me up tonight
Or soon nothing will be right at all
Salvation
Will you find out who you are too late to change?

I wish I could be
Every little thing you wanted.

Thoughts from Somewhere

Got a little tired from studying so I'm writing again. First off, I was not the least bit surprised upon seeing that Garci is back in the headlines once again after a brief hiatus (which I am sure he totally enjoyed). Not only is he hogging the newspapers, he's also the star of the 6 PM news, which I have recently begun to regard as the best telenovela ever, given the seemingly exciting turn of events. What's lacking is a dash of amnesia and telenovelas on primetime would definitely lose their luster.

Speaking of exciting turn of events enough to flip my eyelids backwards, Garci's wife Grace (who I have to give credit for living up to every letter of her name...it's not easy being the better half of THE most-wanted man in the country today) denies that Garci placed a single finger or toe outside the country. Yeah, I roll my eyeballs in disgust. Probably the talk of him doing his own hyperextended version of Jules Verne's classic could have been stretched to some point but him not leaving the country? I know the Philippines has 7,107 islands (and, as we all have memorized by now, even more during low tide), making it perhaps one of the best places in the world to play hide-and-seek next to Antarctica. The Singaporean government has acknowledged that GMA's phone pal had indeed entered its territory and between Lee Kwan Yu's progeny and Garci's better half, the choice as to who I should believe is rather obvious. Besides, if Garci had never left the country, somehow, someone would have gotten to him earlier than now. I have firm faith in our chismax network and noses which could sniff better than the K9s which have become a staple sight in malls. Besides, Garci would not be particularly difficult to single out when in the crowd...except when he's with politicians because by then, they would all reek of the same stench - the people's tears.

*****

GMA was in Busan, South Korea last week for the APEC. She met with Bush, who is also in the same politically tense situation as her in his home country. She also met Korea's president and prepared to discuss several key issues with him regarding governance, especially since Korea is regarded to one of the world's model nations in terms of development and stability.

I was with my dad and we blurted out the same thing: "Be serious about dealing with corruption and start cleaning up your act!" I am curious though as to what the South Korean leader said to her.

*****

My two nieces gave me an interesting "gift" before I left last weekend. Handwritten in pencil on a piece of paper torn off a nine-year old's notebook were the lyrics to Sugarfree's "Makita Kang Muli." Seems like they both wanted me to learn the song since they would spontaneously launch into a duet, crooning the now-familiar "Ohhhhhh..." opening just about anywhere. As I am writing this now, I am singing the extremely addictive "Ohhhhhh" in my head.

Speaking of addictive, I also find myself singing "Pamparampampam" from Kitchie Nadal's version of "Love Ko 'To" minus the fries.

*****

In other music news, Wang Lee Hom, my bane if post-teen obsession with a musical genius were a serious sin, is putting the finishing touches on his new album, which I heard was going to consist of mostly English songs, thus putting a temporary halt on my struggle with Pinyin lyrics. I read that he collaborated with Korea's pop icon Bi (Rain) which would seriously cause some serious stir in the music scene. Personally, I have gone by unaffected by Bi's charms. The guy is a fantastic dancer but I have more proclivity towards watching him rather than listening to him. He's smooth on the dancefloor but has yet to convince me of his singing prowess. Lee Hom, on the other hand, is first and foremost a musician despite all the slashes added to his name, and a rather multifarious one at that. It would be rather interesting to see how his work with Bi would take fruit.

*****

There's something I don't understand about people in airplanes. Whenever I take a flight, I always make sure that I request for a window seat. I am not exactly claustrophobic but I am not a fan of heights. When the airplane does its usual drops in any part of the flight, I tighten my tummy and look out the window because it gives me comfort to know what's going on outside. But if the plane runs out of window seats, that is absolutely fine with me.

What really gets the little furnace in my head roaring is when I walk into the plane, look for my seat and find that someone (and that someone is always older than me by at least fifteen years) is already seated conveniently in my seat. This happened on my flight home. I found a guy in his 40s already squeezed into the window seat I had requested so I asked him politely to give me my seat. He half-stood up, hesitated and then sat down which totally left me flabbergasted...and my temple throbbing. He asked if he could stay there and naturally, though floored, I could not say "no." Call me selfish or what but that was just unfair. If he were a senior citizen and looked a quarter of Dumbledore's age, I would have relented without a whine but he looked pretty healthy enough...and his appetite during the flight was a manifestation of it too. In the first place, I would never ever ask someone for a window seat even if I desperately wanted it because it was my fault I did not check in early in the first place. And second, I would never squeeze myself into a seat other than what is printed on my boarding pass! Just because he got in first does not give him the right to pick a window seat of his choice, slither into it and refuse to leave when the designated owner has arrived. In my opinion, he refused to leave because it was convenient for him...which, in turn, was inconvenient for me. It's a simple matter of good manners, respect for others and proper discipline. You don't take what's not yours. It's like when I was in Korea and I remember one of our companions asked our tour guide "Do you have squatters here in Korea?" The tour guide looked puzzled and asked what squatters were. When he was given an explanation, his response still rings in my head vividly: "Why would anyone want to do that?"

And just so you know, I ended up sitting in the middle, almost smothered by two guys. And did I mention I was completely robbed of armrests?

*****

Watched Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last week and left the theater beaming. HP4 made up for all the shortcomings of its predecessors, especially the first two movies. The direction was "bloody" brilliant as well as the cinematic shots. As promised, the movie was a lot darker. Despite the minor deviations from the book, I was all too glad the script preserved JK Rowling's (sometimes acerbic) sense of humor. I was just a little miffed that they did not even show how Krum, Fleur and Cedric hurdled the first task. I also found myself counting how many lines the other champions had, aside from the incantations. Fleur had four but the other two were just repititions of what she had said in the earlier scenes.Cedric had the most lines (naturally!) while Krum only had two (sniff, sniff)...in fact, the last line was rather negligible because he was whispering it to Hermione's ear. On second thought, as described in the book, Krum was the exact opposite of vociferous which added to his good bad boy appeal. Did I mention his eyes?

The theater was packed with high school students, majority of which were from my sister's old high school. It was like being in a screamfest. First time Malfoy came up onscreen, the theater was barraged by an onslaught of girlish screams I could swear I saw fissures issue from the wall all around us like a network of messy cables. It was like being in grade school and watching Casper all over again (those Devon Sawa days) only this time, the screaming was more sporadic in nature (Cedric was a runner-up). My favorite characters in the film were Krum, Ron with his unparalleled squealing and the Weasley twins who, in my opinion, romp away with being the best scene stealers ever.

*****

Movies in my "To Watch" list:

1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
2. Sayuri
3. Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros
4. Welcome to Dongmakgol