adventures in neverland

since i didn't know that there will be a four-day weekend in hong kong this week, i wasn't able to plan my perfect gate away. so unlike most of my friends who are out in rome, budapest, myanmar,  greece, macau and what have you, i am staying in hong kong. tired of watching dvds and blu rays at my new flat in wanchai (where the city's famous red light district is located), i decided to go out and visit my old neighborhood at the mid-levels. first stop: my favourite coffee shop, just right across a gallery and a five second walk to where jose rizal, yes the filipino national hero, used to live when he was in hong kong a hundred years ago. there is a marker right outside the apartment where he used to live saying that - philippine national hero jose rizal used to live in this building. you get the picture. &&&&&&& i sat outside of the cafe, owned by a friend, frenchie julian, just reading a book and from time to time watching the passersby.

good morning upper east siders. wake up and smell the flowers. look what i uncovered while staying over inside my fabulous flat, trying to get over a nasty hang over. remember when we were in school and we were required to write  a book report? part of the fun about writing the book report was the part where we have to enumerate the moral lessons learned from the book. like, what? i had a dvd marathon over the weekend (i know, i know. i should have gone out to the beach to get a luscious tan before the winter sets in or do some running to shed a lot of unwanted weight, but i got lazy. bad!) and finished season five of gossip girl. this season, if you care, is all about blair. blair and more blair. in the spirit of my youthful, carefree school days, here are the most valuable lessons that i learned from watching the show (the last one before the last season, i hope, that will air next month): * never leave your mobile phones anywhere. someone might get hold of your secrets (

brian j. smith , who plays max, is the only exciting actor to watch in gossip girl season five. he also knows how to act, something that can't be said about nate, dan and especially chuck who mistakes looking smug for acting snobbish, snooty, debonair and rich. &&&&&&&&&&& according to the blogsphere, he is a trained stage actor, having played some great roles in new york. here is more: Brian J. Smith is a professional actor living in New York City.    Education : Brian graduated from the   Juilliard   School of Drama .    Stage : The Columnist  (Broadway) , Come Back Little Sheba  (Broadway),  Good Boys and True  (Second Stage, NYC),  Three Changes (Playwrights Horizons Theatre),  The Laramie Project   (WaterTower Theatre),   Big Love (Dallas Theater Center),   All My Sons   and Measure for Measure   (Chautauqua Theatre Company),   The Fabulous Life of a Size Zero (Off-Broadway).    Film :   The War Boys ,   Red Hook , and   H

it's sunny outside, although the air is a bit chilly. these are the last days of summer and soon winter will set in. i ought to be in the beach, but i still have to find the energy to pack towels, swimsuits, books, magazines, cameras, snacks for a day of lounging at the seashore. plus i don't have the nerve yet to ask a former special friend to drive me to our favourite beach, which is an an hour's drive away from central. he is the only one i know in central who drives a proper car. we are still awkward with each other. we have not talked much since i came back. we had coffee once, but we were both quiet. chos. &&&&&& i just finished cleaning up my flat. i realised i haven't done this thorough cleaning in two months or more. the last time i did so was when the gay squad (tito mon, erik and jimmy) was in town. it's my favourite household chore, by the way, cleaning, scrubbing, changing the sheets and pillow cases. wiping dust and

(of course she is perfect in all her monumental films such as the french lieutenant's woman, sophie's choice, up to her latest margaret thatcher role, but i always look back to her kramer vs kramer's lonely wife joanna as one of her best works to date.) from the opening scene, to the court room, up to the last scene that showed her going up the elevator to talk to her son, meryl streep was flawless in kramer vs kramer. she was so beautiful, enchanting, engrossing, captivating, you can't keep your eyes off from her. even in her quiet moments, when she was just watching her son from afar, or silently reacting to what was being said in the court room, meryl was in her character, down to her luminous hair. $$$$$ it's really the mark of a truly gifted artist that meryl's character stays with you even if she appeared just in the few but key scenes of the movie. even if she's off the screen,  you still feel her presence. (no chos this time!) &&am

to say that he stole the show is an understatement. i am talking about the annual flesh feast, currently known as bench universe. (will this become another shake, rattle and roll phenomenon? are we going to see bench universe 100th edition, the martians in thongs?) the lustable paulo or paolo avelino lorded it over the wannabes, trying hards, jologs (too many of them), the has beens, paminthas, and what have yous. sorry if i am being cruel here, i am just stating a fact. chos!! truth be told, pao(u)lo deserves every accolade that he is currently getting - he has it all, good looks, brains, beauty, gorgeous body and a face to lust for. never mind the expression on his face (he must be nervous that he might not be able to carry the burden of the ugly red thingie all over him) as well as the tacky red riding whatever motif. the "stylist" must have gone mad and gone on an acid trip...chos! &&&&& he looked better here. more appetizing than say a si

(first written in july last year; updated with before midnight news) i must be old. really vintage archaic aged museum piece old. last nyt, while resting because of flu, colds and cough, i watched before sunrise and before sunset again, richard linklater's ode to young luv and the foolish things we do before real lyf hits us. surprisingly, after watching the two movies back to back for the nth time, i was more drawn to before sunset this time. lyk i could totally relate to the older jesse (ethan hawke) and celine (julie delpy). especially celine, the angrier, more cynical, but still obviously in luv with jesse. &&&&&& anyway, i luv the soundtrack of these films. too bad, i left my cd at our villa in the philippines. chos. i always luv this song. listen and weep. it's so heartfelt, so touching, can't help but look at my own foolish, self centered, selfish youth. as celine puts it - "memories are wonderful things, if you don&

ian mcewan's (atonement, on chesil beach, saturday, amsterdam) latest book, sweet tooth is a big disappointment. it's boring. sure the prose is still (mostly) gorgeous, but the characters are so predictable and bland. you expect some real spying action, but there is none. (maybe i read the wrong book about m15?). it's also so ego centrical. chos! it did not pick pace until the last two chapters. even the usual surprise at the end is not a surprise at all. you can already tell from the start. double chos! &&&&& the short stories though are fun and entertaining. especially about the lonely rich man who fell in luv with a mannequin who reminded him of his ex-wife. as well as the one about a wife who stole from her husband. she became even more desirable after the husband learned of her deceit. their last sex was so hot, a nice punctuation mark to their doomed marriage. &&&&&& but the book is filled with gems like thes

on holiday mode. quiet, breezy, sunny and most of all - serene. chos! but i wish i spent it with him: according to the buzz on the blogsphere, he is another hot brazilian model conquering manille. drool! (second picture was taken from internet. no copyright infringement intended.)

 (that's me and my gorgeous mother. she isn't perfect, but she luvs me -- i hope -- and i luv her. dearly.) and so we march on. with heads up, heavy, weary, wary heart. but still in fighting form. that's what i learned from my forty three year stay in a forgotten country. this is my second coming of age journey, if ever there is one. i am a child. at heart. i never want to grow up. i have a peter pan complex and luv it. my face no longer shows it - so many lines on the forehead and below the eyes, tired, droopy, have seen them all eyes. even my once lush, black hair is slowly receding, with the few black ones turning to grey. gone are the high cheekbones too, the innocent stares, the unknowing, nervous smiles. time is kinder to nature - the trees, the stones. a tree blossoms as it ages. a stone becomes more adept at surviving anywhere - land, sea even air. but us humans? we shrink, we wrinkle, we become more fearful as we grow older. we become more stupid as we

we all have our moments when we simply want to be the classy version of bella flores - be really bitchy but still sound and look lyk you get your tan in st tropez or the hamptons and ski at aspen. think meryl streep in the devil wears prada. chos! sometimes i have this illusion that i were as gorgeous as  julia saner or song hye kyo but as filthy super wealthy as a walton or a rinehart. then i could be as bitchy as la bella and i will be forgiven - simply because i am super fabulous, gorgeous and filthy rich. kidding! but simple and poor as i am, i have really super wealthy friends whose moments of cattiness are real gems.  and i share them to you so you will learn from the masters. double chos! &&&&& i was once window shopping in an expensive mall in one of asia's shopping havens (no, not singapore). it was around eleven in the morning and the shops had just opened. i went inside this upscale shop looking for a bag. but the shop girl was masun

unlike many of today's young, trying hard to look and act straight actors (read: pamhinta) at the country's leading network (will somebody pretty please tell these kids and their handlers that they can't fool us. these straight acting kids can't hide their fishy stink by being linked with pretty starlets. chos!), ejay falcon no doubt is the real thing. he looks lyk your typical malambing pero medyo bastos school crush, who always plays basketball without a shirt. sweaty and all. ejay epitomizes what my luvly bff calls a guy who is "every inch a man."  her words, not mine. &&&&& during his pa-cute, pa-heart throb days, he looked as vapid as the next paminta star at his home network. even if he tried the sexy route: but look at him now. bit older, bulky and burly, with long, messy, curly hair. will somebody please give him a launching film ala richard gere in american gigolo? but unlyk richard, ejay does