adventures in neverland

friday night. rather early saturday morning. 3:12 a.m. my old but reliable sony ericson phone lighted up with this message: "brunch, sunday? same place." it was hannah. drunk, with blurry vision (misplaced my eyeglasses) and wobbling knees (tired from all that dancing and flirting), i replied: "k." short, simple, clear, direct to the point. my editors would be proud. &&&&& two o clock. sunday. hannah sauntered into the restaurant, looking fabulous in an alber elbaz powder blue floral dress (almost the same one that emma stone wore to an event, but that one was in red), marc jacobs pumps and huge straw bag she bought at a christmas charity tiangge last month. her long curly hair tied simply at the back, pigtail style. her tired, sleepy eyes were covered well by a huge dark chanel glasses. lyk all gorgeous people, she was unmindful of the stares and admiring eyes that followed her right after she entered the door. it's still a b...

it's not even summer yet - the air is still a bit chilly especially in the very early morning. but the famous philippine underwear maker and retailer bench is already heralding the advent of the super hot summer with its new summer campaign featuring some of the sexiest men around. this early, the pink blogsphere is already abuzz with near naked pictures of some of the brand's scorching boys of summer. what can i say? it's a totally gay world. here are some of my favourites. enjoy! *leggy vince ferraren - sumptuous. he is turning out to be this year's hottest bench model, eclipsing even the established ones. (not sure if this last one is from the two thousand and thirteen bench summer campaign as well. maybe not because the red underwear is simply atrocious! chos.) * the ballers semerad twin(k)s - mouth watering in their hotness. these leggy ballers sure know how to titillate without being sleazy.  (can you tell which one is david and whi...

pls click here for my tagaytay adventure in december. if you care.) sunday. two in the afternoon. january twenty seven. the sun was at its hottest. while a cold wind was blowing, i still removed my sweater because it was not enough to ease the sun's angry rays. elbowing with other shoppers, we made our way into the depths of the market place looking for jackfruit. one vendor told us that it was not in season, so it would be hard to find. but we were undaunted. like seasoned shoppers, the harder to find the thing is, the more determined we are to get it.  the "it's not in season" is for the novice, the callow, the weak. we are the opposite. we are seasoned. we are ripe for picking the best, not for the picking. there were mangoes, green, yellow, ripe. seductive. alluring. pineapples with their promise of sweet, juicy meat inside. but we ignored them. yellow, tiny bananas abound. watermelons too, big as basketballs, even bigger. heralding the advent of s...

(reposting with quotes at the intro and a youtube video of friends allegedly greeting atty. gigi reyes on her fiftieth birthday; first posted on october two, two thousand and twelve) “i believe what the public really hungers for is the truth about the officials they elected and how their money is spent or wasted. the people now believe that the senate stinks." -- senate president juan ponce enrile’s chief of staff, jessica “gigi” reyes. 'w hen you have a plagiarist, acknowledge womanizers, fugitives, then your organization most likely stinks. now add all the corrupt practices, waste, fraud, and abuse and you have a senate that is guaranteed "stinky." the problem is none has had the courage to challenge these senators, and it had to be a senator "fighting" another that led to these events. if something good happens as a result is yet to be seen. ms. reyes is part of the problem and hers are just empty threats." --  4wd commented ...

hohum. an oscar without meryl streep is like reading haruki murakami without the talking cat or two moons. it's just plain boring. yawn! even the best picture nominees look drab. steven spielberg, overrated in my book (i nearly committed suicide after watching his previous oscar nominated film war horse), is at it again. don't you just hate it that almost all of his "serious" movies are always begging for an oscar - the story, cinematography, musical score (especially), theme, actors, ridiculous! a musical? i never like musicals, even on broadway. call me what  you want, a culture savant for one, but i prefer watching movies where actors talk, shout, cry and not burst into a song. so les miserables is not my cup of tea. what about life of pi? ang lee's bold attempt to further expand his repertoire. it's outre in my book (i did not read the book either). i admire ang lee. i luv his previous obras - the wedding banquet (a huge favourite), eat, drink man,...

at a recent gathering of very very close friends and frenemies (mere friends are not invited. chos!), someone dear who had not seen me for several years remarked rather out of the blue about my huge belly  after i gobbled up a kilo of lechon, five cups of rice and bottles of beer ("you look like twenty months pregnant!') and my weight gain. i just gave her my monalisa smile. what else can i say? i luv her and i am used to it already. since i arrived in manille several weeks ago (i can't remember exactly anymore. i am on vacation so i forget about the seconds, hours, days and weeks that pass by), i have gotten used to this "you are so fat" comment. some are vile, others are amused and most of the time plain horrendous. welcome to the third world manille, where people think it's alright to quip innocently about someone's weight gain, or making a big deal about it (it's totally fine if you are my friend. haha). but unlike anne hathaway who was tou...