Mau-galing, Mau-galing, Mau-galing!

Last night was the 1st Philippine Idol's Finale/Results night.

Ang my bet, Maureen Marcelo won it over Gian Magdangal and Jan Nieto.



And the winning margin is only 1.42% against the second placer.

How close can that get?

Anyway good luck mau and i will surely wait for your cd..

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Ironic

i remember this alanis song when i think of the situation today.

you see, a supertyphoon will be hitting luzon again. and as a lot of us are scrambling to protect our properties and making sure there's enough food and water, and pray that it will at least weaken as it passes, some people are actually praying for the potential huge amount of rain!

now isn't that ironic?

months earlier, a warning has already been raised that next year (until June 2007), there will be water shortage as dams that supply the water to mega manila and nearby provinces are now nearing the critical level way ahead of schedule! and since then, they've been hoping for more rain and even a typhoon to fill up that need.

now isn't that ironic?

some pray that'll no more typhoon, and some hope they'll be more.

irony of life.






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Guilty!

Yesterday I was late for work and didn't make any excuse for that because a lot of us in the office were late because of the tremendous (yes, that huge!) traffic that the repair of a portion of a busy highway has caused.

Today I am late again. Partly because of the traffic but more of being tardy! And I am so guilty because I made an excuse for that, no, make that a lie, I lied for being late. I told my boss that I need to go to the bank to deposit money to my sister's account, and since our office is located in an "isolated urban area" of fort bonifacio, i'll be needing at least a 30 minute effort to go to a bank and another 45 minutes to actually transact and be able to go back to the office, hence its acceptable to go first to the bank in the morning before coming to the office. I was doing that when there's really a need to do that. But today, I used that excuse to lie just to make it appear I am not tardy.

And I am so guilty for doing that.

What makes me guitier is the fact that my boss (he's a japanese) is so kind and here I am abusing his kindness!

I do not want to do this again, it's so uncomfortable, very uncomfortable. A lie is still a lie no matter how you want to call it, and that makes me less of a good boy, Santa may not visit me for being bad. LOL. yay, that didn't help, I am still guilty. Better do something good today.

On Philippine Idol: Miguel is out (finally, finally, FINALLY!!!)

after weeks and weeks and weeks of waiting, Miguel is finally eliminated. There, eliminated. E-L-I-M-I-N-A-T-E-D. yes.

i am actually happy for Miguel, and i think he is also, at least he is now free from those harsh comments both by the judges and the viewing public. i think he sung his last song more relaxed compared with sunday's performance. at 17, the pressure must have been too much for him

for now, always remind Mr. C for that song he promised he'll co-write with you. good luck to you miguel, and at least finish your high school!

for the big 3, more good luck.

good thing that my little christmas bonus is coming, i can spare a few hundreds for mau and only for mau. i think gian has an edge on the energy but definitely mau will give him a good fight, it's between gian and mau. for jan, good luck to you too.

What is scary for me?

Horror movies? not really.

yesterday, i viewed one post in anton's blog that documents his goungzhou exotic food adventure that leads him to eat snakes, hairy crabs, water bugs. there was a warning that those with weak heart and stomach should not view the post, but i did hehehe. i don't have a weak heart but i have a problem in the stomach area. i thought its not going to be as gross as he picture it to be, but it was!!

in the pictures were plateful of snake or snakes, (with the skin!!), sushi-style alligator (omg, there's the hand/foot of the poor fellow dangling on the edge of the plate), water bugs (how the cockroach looked like is exactly how they look), and the not so scary hairy crab, a squid and a few others.

i told him how brave and courageous he was for eating/doing those things, but according to him, it was worth the experience but will never do that again. hahaha

as for me, the only exotic foods that i've tried are bayawak (monitor lizard i think) and frogs, and both of them taste like chicken. that's the farthest that i could go as far as exotic foods are concerned, farther than that? just kill me. hehehe

My table is now a big mess

I don't know what's with the last few days, but i've never been this busy for quite sometime and my work has actually taken my time hehehe. but its good to be back and i still have that boracay update in the horizon, at least i have updated my account in www.virtualtourist.com.

back to work!

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Boracay, finally!

i'll do a lengthy post on boracay later and how friendly and honest the people are, for now, here's a glimpse of why its called paradise!

meanwhile, the three days off that i got is now a pile of workloads.

later alligator :D

To Boracay!!

after the long wait, we'll be off to Boracay tomorrow.

i've been waiting for this since forever and i cannot hide my excitement that after years of planning it will finally push thru. its going to be 4days 3nights of fun and i am planning to get as much picture/s as i could, i will just worry about the printing/developing expenses later. haha.

for the meantime, i hope boracay will top pagudpud as my favorite beach

Offline!

great, just what you need when you're next in line to deposit money at the bank!

this morning, i waited for at least 30 minutes for the bank to open, and another 25 minutes falling in line and when its my turn already, the bank teller showed me a huge OFFLINE signage! hah.

i waited again for the next 5 minutes, asking the teller if its online already for almost every 20 seconds, then 5 minutes became, 10 minutes... 15 minutes... 20 minutes!!! there, i gave up! i wasted almost an hour for nothing.

sigh, advancement of technology should make our daily lives "more livable" but this morning and many times before, i experienced the opposite. its like you enter the bank, sit there, look at people around, look at tellers who do not smile, heard some phone ringing, stand and then go out. how productive can you get?!

anyway, modern technology is good if it is good, and bad if it is bad. it is just ironic that it is bad when you need it the most.

Britney Spears files for divorce

only now.

when she marries kevin federline (sp?), there was a large stamp on their marriage certificate that says "soon to divorce". they are the most, most, most likely celebrity couple (is kevin a celebrity lol) to split and i am actually bothered (lol) that it is happening only now. good for britney and also good that a pre-nuptial agreement was placed before she weds this kevin. why him in the first place?

oh well, at least she returned to her consciousness before she reached the whitney houston proportion.

Apple was eliminated

Sigh, another good singer in Apple Chiu says goodbye to Philippine Idol.

The top six is now a contest between three of the best singers (Pow, Mau and Gian) against three of the weaker (i finally found the more tame word for "not-so-good" hehehe) singers (Ken, Jan and Miguel).

Will the fans of Apple, Arms, Reymond, Drae, Stef and even Jelli text their votes for Pow, Mau or Gian? I think so. They're more likely to vote for the best singers than support the weaker ones.

Philippine Idol Dance theme night

with guest judge, Regine Tolentino! yes, a dancer in a singing competition!
before any rendering any jugdment, here's the recap.

ryan opened the show informing everyone to get their dancing shoes ready, its party time tonight!

the remaining idols sung "Sumayaw, Sumunod" on a platform at the back of the judges' table. it was a bit short for everyone to enjoy.

and here's how the performance goes:
1. JAN - La Vida Loca (in black jacket which he removes later on to reveal his sando underneath)
Mamita: "Very good! can i dance with you onstage? (jan obliged and they dance onstage for about 10 secs)"
Regine: "Very powerful! Sexy! Bravo!
Mr. C: "Jan, nakaka-loca!!!"
- it is a very good start, Jan, who's admittedly not a dancer, was suprisingly good. so much energy and i think the dancers and the lights really help energized the performance. it was not a very strong vocal performance, can see the stiffness in his dancing but the girls love it. give jan props for the effort.

2. POW - Got to be real (in blue shirt topped by leopard printed polo and black overcoat)
Regine : "You look awesome! It was not my favorite song, but now it is."
Mamita: yadda, yadda, yadda and she keeps on pointing the coat is getting longer and that soon Pow will be wearing a gown. oh, she enjoyed it!
Mr. C: "We already saw you perform like that, start reinventing yourself, nothing new, try to offer something new."
- pow has the energy to this song, i just thought the song does not have so much vocal and i was not really amazed by it.

3. MIGUEL - Make it with you (in ala-German Moreno glittering dolphin-trenchcoat)
Mamita: "ARe you nervous? you're shaking! I prefer you singing ballad."
Regine: "There were awkward movements there, and in one or two moments, i thought you're pa-girl (girly)"
Mr. C: "You should see how the other contestants work harder, it was a bad song choice, it was too much for you."
- Miguel lacks the energy and you can really feel that he's not into the song and the song is not with him, i think his performance is a bit lost, not good.

4. KEN - Signed, sealed, delivered (with a dark colored feather (diva!!!) in a silver striped (!!!) satin (!!!) pants)
Regine: "Over all performance, its a lot of fun, I just don't get your look, its distracting!" haha
Mamita: "I am very happy for you tonight, these kind of songs really suits you!"
Mr. C: "I am seeing a very confident Ken, and you brought it tonight!"
- I did not enjoy it because the outfit really, really distracts me to the point that i am laughing! i really do not get ken and for me there's nothing special in his voice, he is trying so hard to hit the high notes to the point that he's screeching! ugh

5. MAU - Shy guy (she in pink!!)
Mamita: "That song should be sung by somebody who's slim, tall, sexy... you should lose weight!" ouch.
Regine: "You're a diva so you should look like a diva."
Mr. C: "For me, you're the best singer, if you want to be the Philippine Idol, you have to take it seriously."
- hmm, i cannot say anything about Mau's voice, it is solid and there's energy in there but i am just wondering why I cannot see it in her moves? she should have moved! she should have danced! there's something lacking in her performance, but i still love her though. lol.

6. GIAN - Rock DJ (the usual gian outfit, white tight fitting shirt, black jacket)
Mamita: "I expect you to dance tonight, but you did not. but i love you."
Regine: "I really, really appreciate your small dance movements, it's the best performance for me tonight!" wow.
Mr. C: "It was just okay for me, it counterpoints everyone's performance."
- and then gian started talking again (he should stop explaining himself!), i like his performance, not so big but enjoyable, it maybe because i also like robbie william hehehe. gian did a little robbie in his number, he removed his jacket as if stripping, in the video of this song, robbie actually stripped down to his birthday suit. i think no one get that jacket stripping. it was good gian.

7. APPLE - Lady Marmalade (in a bridal veil headdress)
Regine: "I was distracted by you pulling you pants up."
Mamita: "You got the looks, you should have just the pants fall off! I enjoyed your singing."
Mr. C: "Strong performance, surprise us again next week."

bryanboy's the anti-christ?

i just saw this in a link in yuga' blog.

the link will lead you to bryanboy's blog, and hell yeah, his blog is on fire! this picture created quite a stir and now bryanboy is being called the anti-christ.

i honestly do not care what other people will write or will not write in their blog, but this one's quite offensive.

there might be some other things that maybe more offensive than this, but can they just leave the image alone?

oh well..

Jelli and Arms eliminated!

Jelli Mateo and Armarie Cruz were eliminated from the Philippine idol last night.

i have mixed feeling about last night, i am relieved that mau and gian were safe but i am also saddened that arms, instead of Ken or Jan, was booted out!

for jelli, it's actually quite a shame that she left when she performed better. graceful exit? pwede!

arms took her elimination with a smile (but drae, her rumored bf, is not smiling) and it was so classy of her.

keep it up, jelli and arms.

Boy Scouts to accept girls?

what's up with the boy scout of the philippines officers? have they ran out of things to do that's why they issued a memorandum directing all regional directors to accept GIRLS IN THE BOYS SCOUT? again, GIRLS IN THE BOY SCOUTS??? coed camps are okey, but having girls in the boy scouts is not really a very bright idea.

sure, promoting equality and building a gender-less society is a nice gesture, but c'mon, leave the boy scouts to the boys and girls to the girl scouts! what are they thinking kaya? oh, maybe they're thinking that the girl scouts of the philippines will also do the same. LOL. it's one big crazy idea. just leave it as it is, there's no need for that.

the girs scouts of the philippines is, of course, not very happy with this.

My take on Philippine Idol

and they've moved to a new timeslot! Performance will now be on Sundays after the PBA, results night will be Mondays.

last night's theme is Songs of their lives, quite a broad theme and the contestants get to choose any song from any genre.

every song should have a story related to them, thus the song of their lives.

it was so far the best performance night. everyone's at their element, except for Jan (who started the song Kailangan Kita with a lot of promise and then the tunes went all over the place as he hit the latter part of song, i also thought he still has this just singing the song aura, and Mr. C confirms it by saying he didn't feel the energy) and Pow (it was a big mistake singing a song that almost no one can relate to, i don't even remember the title, anyway it was by Spiral staircase, a 60's group i presume).

apple sung Someone to watch over me and she's good! i love standards and pilita loves her too! watch out for this girl, she could surprise us!

arms did not impressed me tonight. her version of If I believed is boring, passable but boring.

i was, as everyone was, surprised to see a better ken! he sung Get here and his performance is astronomically better than the previous week/s and he didn't miss any notes! wow. hey, what's with the dancers anyway?! Mr. C even told him he should not leave this week. scary!!! he's good this week but i am still not convinced that he should stay.

miguel, who accompanied himself on the piano, gave a mature and good rendition of Barry Manilow's Sandra who he says his own tribute to his mom. aww. this kid got something in him, if he could only maintain that emotional attachment to every song then he'll be okey but forget the idea of him being the first philippine idol. by the way, miguel has a beautiful mother. and it was his best performance so far.

mau, she is soo good. although still with some whitney houston-ish singing, she tried to make I will always love her own, and what a performance it was! so controlled, she belts but not screeching! luke mijares (guest judge) was teary eyed, gave mau a standing ovation and even invited her to guest in his next album! Mr. C is once again right on the money in saying that Mau holds the audience in her palm with her every performance. He only called mau a witch ready for the halloween! wee. she first came in an overcoat with a headdress and when she hit the chorus of the song, she removed the overcoat and revealed a black gown but her headdress is still there. i don't know, i think she'll do just fine without that headdress on. anyway, the good-humored that she is, she just take it in stride and laugh with that "witch" comment.

jelli, the beautiful lounge singer, is oozing and very seductive in her red gown, choose You don't know me by Ray Charles. something is definitely in the air tonight, jelli is good, i finally liked her! or maybe i just like standards? whatever, she just nailed it, no strained notes and very relaxed. good job.

finally, gian. his take on Luther Vandross' classic Superstar is also good. he limited his being theatrical and did a very emotional performance, although i must admit there were some parts that i thought his voice will cracked, but good thing he didn't.

here's how i ranked the performance :
1. Mau
2. Gian
3/4. Apple/Jelli
5. MIguel
6. Ken
7. Pow
8. Arms
9. Jan

Pow, Arms, Jan and Ken should be the bottom 4 with Jan and Ken leaving.

BUT, if the trend will continue this week, i think the top performers will again be in the bottom 4: Mau, Gian, Pow and Arms with Mau and Gian leaving. i hoped to be wrong with this, very, very wrong.

I am keeping my fingers crossed, hopefully the two-hour voting (down from the almost 24 hours voting the previous weeks) will do wonders for Mau and Gian.

:)

Again, no one was eliminated

wow.

on the first time, it's understandable. the second time, it's quite unbelievable.

i am talking about the Philippine Idol. last saturday, it was pinoy band hits night, for Oct 21 show recaps, click here. and i thought that Arms, Mau and Gian were the night's best performers, Pow is also up there but as Mr. C puts it, she's starting to fall on the category of being good but boring...

sunday's results night is a different story. i am expecting that mau and gian will be in the bottom 3 again (i voted for mau a lot, but somehow Smart did not send the acknowledgment text for some of the votes i sent, i thought there would just be some delay until i completely forgotten all about it). I wasn't able to catch the early parts of the show (i missed the opening number featuring Mangarap ka by afterimage and the recaps of last saturday's show) and when i tune into ABC 5, Ryan says that he'll be giving a very important announcement.

uh-oh. what could this be?

there were a lot of feedbacks/calls from voters/subscribers that sun cellular (the other cellular network along side with globe) as well as Smart did not send them acknowledgment texts to their votes almost the entire Sunday! whoa, then i remember, that, yeah, i did not received any text/s from smart! and then Ryan said, "walang mae-eliminate! (no one is eliminated!)", but all votes will be carried over next week and that means two finalists will be gone by monday.

again?!

i don't know but i really did not buy the idea that because of some technical glitches, no one will be eliminated again? that means ken will be singing again next performance night? (oh btw, performance night was moved from saturday to sunday, and the results night to monday). geesh, he was badly lambasted for forgetting and mixing the lyrics of Eraserheads' Ligaya, Mr. C even commented that he is the cause of the early exit of Drae and Reymond, and again, he will be singing again next week?? again???

the last two weeks, the PI forum has virtually turned into a anti-Ken forum! with all kinds of accusations and theories like he's gay, he's buying votes, that jan's parents are helping him and other stuffs imaginable. to be fair, Ken can sing BUT he is not great, he can deliver the votes, sure, but what he's doing during his performances makes you more doubtful as to who really voted for him. i couldn't agree more with Mr. C when he said to Ken (like an in-your-face thing) that his journey with PI should have ended sooner or something like that. how very true (i really did not understand Ken's reply to this, i only heard something like "maybe i deserved this..").

there was this theory (again, from the forum) that the reason why no one was eliminated was because the bottom 3 were Gian, Arms and Mau, which according to some are the bets of ABC 5, and they do not want them leave just yet. ridiculous isn't it?

i really did not take the forum seriously because i know it is a playground for all the imaginable (there's that word again) things anyone can think of. but these things can also be true right?

anyway this is an idol franchise and with the franchise come/s the controversy/controversies.

a little under the weather

when i came to the office this morning, everything's normal. and then i sneeze, and sneeze, and sneeze. and now i have this sinusitis-like attack (sneezing, a little teary eyed) and my throat is a bit itchy. this is a warning for a forecoming colds. as much as possible, i do not want medication to prevent colds, what i am doing is take a lot of water, put a little of efficascent oil/ointment in my neck, back, side of the head, a little also on the lower back and then sleep early.

i hope to get well tomorrow, so i can finish this thing i am doing two weeks in advance so i can file my leave for the much-awaited boracay trip. hehehe, i am so bad. :)

Free hugs

i was browsing the youtube and saw this video. i thought it was awesome, it makes you feel good and the song playing in the background has a very good lyrics.

forgive me, but i still don't know how to post a video, so a link, i think, would be better. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKILQPBcVTI

sunsets

i am a sun worshipper. i adore sunsets. just like people, there's no identical sunsets.

it is always an amazing sight, the horizon changing from blue to yellow to orange until you get that last golden rays of the sun.

capturing the sunset will always be an experience. it has no angle but you will be needing some "props" to highlight its beauty, be it leaves, boats, trees, rooftops, even people can be a very props to the sunset.

missed episode 5 of the Amazing Race

it was only last night that i realized, i missed the monday episode of the Amazing Race 10! what's with me? oh, the world trade center invitational screening.

normally, monday night is amazing race night for me, so basically after office, everything needs to be rushed (oh, if i can only tell the bus driver to drive crazy, i will) including my monday session in the gym, for me to be able to catch the replay of AR 10.

i just read in the recaps that they're in India and, it was a non-elimination leg. wow, mary and his husband (was that david?) were saved! there's an added twist though, unlike in the previous seasons where the group who came in last and saved in a non-elim leg will be mugged (like all their money and possessions, except their passports and the clothes they're wearing will be taken from them), season 10 will not do that. Instead, they will be marked for elimination, they should came in first the next leg, otherwise they will be given a 30 minute penaltyl. ooh.

i love this show.

the morning after world trade center

we went to the invitational screening of the new Oliver Stone movie: World Trade Center at the Glorietta last night. the invites said screening will be at 7:30 pm, so its safe to say that it will end at around 9:30. hey, it doesn't start until 8:15 and ended at about after more than 2 hours! there was a raffle, and we didn't win, so maybe that makes the waiting even more hmp! :)

i expect the movie to be a tearjerker, but surprise, surprise! it wasn't! i expect to be teary eyed just like the way Deep Impact (remember this elijah wood movie?) moved me because it will focus on family, relationships and the tragedy that is 9/11. i wasn't!

but i am not dissapointed either.

maybe it's a good thing that they did not make the movie to be as heavy as its theme. true, the image of the world trade center collapsing is still and will be always a shocking one, but they did not dig too much on this. they focus on heroism. they focus on what an individual can do to a fellow individual. it highlighted the fact that 9/11 not only showed what an evil can do but more importantly, it also showed the goodness of man, that no matter the face, the color or belief, it is human nature to help.

i also learned from this movie that the elevator shaft is the strongest part of any building. hmm, now i know where to run.

i really do not want to review the movie, but the images of nicocas cage and the other police trapped in the rubbles as they continue to talked to each other, encouraging each other not to sleep, etc has been in my mind since i woke at 4:30 am (4.5 hours of sleep, whew), i do not know what hit me!

maybe because it's a 9/11 movie and the memory of what happened that day will forever hunt the world.