Am I officially too old?

Am I too old or are girls getting skankier by the day? I mean seriously. This is something I've been thinking about the past few days. I haven't visited Encore (yeah, yeah, yeah!!!) since it was closed down for all its rowdiness. Back then it was still Embassy. I guess that's been quite a while yes? (on a side note... what kind of silliness is all this talk about Encore's big renovation?! I didn't see anything new about the place except maybe the few extra tables in the middle of the dance floor!!! that's supposed to be the change?!) Anyway, even back when Encore was still Embassy, there were already some pretty questionable party-goers stinking up the place. But it was pretty manageable in my opinion. A few eye-sores here and there but you could pretty much turn your back and they'd be gone. This last visit there however was pretty darn scary. 

 those 2 behind me aren't even the worst of it. they were pretty tame actually

Birthday Blues Commencing

I was freeing up space in my hard drive and I found some old photos. I sure miss the old days.

26 things that I miss and would stop growing for:

Tao Yuan

Tao Yuan Restaurant in Malate. Our home for the next decade or so.

I've never been to Singapore nor tasted authentic Hainanese chicken/ chicken rice. The ones I've tried were either home-cooked or ordered from Chinese restaurants. N would always rave about the chicken rice in Singapore, and I never understood why. To tell you frankly, I wasn't a big fan of the dish. I'd always remember the ones I ate before, and they weren't all that good. Just okay. Normal chicken. But N said the one he tried in Singapore was different. So I got curious and did a bit of reading.

 F, N and I walking to Tao Yuan

Cafe 1771

Warning. Long entry coming your way. During Holy Week, I did nothing but watch How I Met Your Mother, blog and surf the internet. It was starting to seem all so pathetic until I stumbled upon this entry.

Check your SSS... and soon your bank account through text.

There are many reports of employers not remitting the SSS contributions to SSS or for some reason, the conributions not being reflected at SSS.

I suggest you check by Texting SSS to 2600.
You will get the instructions how to check your contributions through text.

For everyone who has ever tried finding out their contributions, this is a radically easier way to get it.

This features new Text technology called iSMS from Sybase.
It will not give error messages for wrong Keywords or lacking information on your text.
Just don't forget to put SSS at the start of each message.

The next iSMS service they are launching soon will be for Bancnet.
It will enable you to ask for your Account Balance, Load your phones, pay your bills and other related banking services.
With iSMS, you just need to text, "Account Balance ko?","May pera pa ko?", "Pay my meralco bill", "Load my phone 200php" and the service will understand your question or request. Cool huh?!

It's the future. It will bring Mobile Banking to everyone.

This is N and this is a shameless plug.

Not Life Imitating Art

Please watch out for the upcoming film of Star Cinema entitled “I’ll Be There”, starring KC Concepcion, Jerciho Rosales and Gabby Concepcion. This is being directed by master story-teller, Maryo J. delos Reyes.

Gabby and KC Concepcion

It was quite an experience seeing Gabby and KC act right before my eyes. The story is about the relationship of a daughter who comes home from the US to the province to get to know her estranged father who owns hectares and hectares of coprahan. It wasn’t really life imitating art but just a story that you should definitely watch out for.

With Direk Maryo

It is also interesting to mention that Gabby and KC seem very close on the set. Gabby refers to KC as his supplier of “greens” because she always brings salad for him on the set. It was a delight to be with these 2 genuinely nice people with no signs of diva attitude. Gabby is very approachable, charming and very funny. While KC is gorgeous, adorable and just amazingly down to earth.

With Cacai

I hope to be back on their set because I really had a great time working with Direk Maryo, KC and Gabby.

Catch me if you can.

I am F...

"Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I'm home bound."

This is the first line from Vanessa Carlton's "A Thousand Miles", which could probably win the Chickest Song Award should Danton Remoto and Ang Ladlad decide to have one. In spite of this, I know men who know this song by heart and probably sing this in karaoke bars. No, I'm not referring to guys in their closets. In fact, they could be Colt 45 ambassadors. Think Latrell Spencer (played by Terry Crews) singing this song to his date while driving his Porsche in the movie "White Chicks". If you haven't seen the movie, click on the link below and see for yourself what I'm talking about:

 White Chicks



Latrell Spencer. Superstar athlete. Loves women. Drives a Porsche covertible. Loves "A Thousand Miles".
F. Athletic. Loves a woman (1). Drives a BMW convertible (on lease). Loves to cook.
Get the picture?

I am F, the unconventional addition to the already colorful Soapbox crew.


P.S. Danton Remoto is one of my good teachers but let it be known that I am not endorsing them and neither will I vote for them.

Finding my center part 2

I didn't think finding peace within myself would be so darn difficult. Last night I went to my first Ashtanga yoga class. I am aching all over. Mind you this was only an introductory class. They say things will really start rolling on Friday. Good Lord. Of all the yoga styles I could have tried, I had to go with the one that seems to have the most movement. My plan was to concentrate and try to quiet my mind. All I could concentrate on was to not collapse on the mat while doing the poses.

Now I have to memorize the Ashtanga poses for next Friday since we begged our instructor that we could do no more. She relented but I don't think she'll be as kind by then. God I hope I last through the entire workshop...

my homework

Soms the Sequel

My office mates wanted to eat out for lunch, and when they invited me to go to Soms, my first reaction was: "oh." Follwed by "Sssige." Let me tell you why.

Finding my center

I've recently started reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I heard about the book a few years back but I couldn't be bothered to read it since generally non fiction books tend to bore me. However, after hearing that the book is in it's something like, 158th week in the number 1 best seller list, I decided to see what the fuss was all about. I'm not quite done with the book yet but boy... I understand why it's still number 1 today. And why, Julia Roberts has a movie based on the book too.

Facebook = Air

Raise your hand if:
1) You've forced more than 10 people to create a Facebook account.
2) You've successfully used Facebook to stalk a crush, a girl you don't like, an old classmate who dropped out of school because she got knocked up... and John Lloyd Cruz.
3) You always feel the need to tell the world that you just ate popcorn, brushed your teeth, find a dish so yum! yum!, and ":)"
4) You've never "liked" so many things in your whole life.
5) You instantly know who is dating who and who is not dating who anymore.
6) You've grouped the people in your life as: friends, family, and danger-cannot-see-these-photos.
7) You've never been invited to so many events in your life, considering the fact that you were the biggest loser in high school.
8) You only groom yourself when you're sure you'll have a photo up on Facebook.
9) You need to post photos of the normal day that you had because, hey, Facebook is a place to keep extra jpeg files, right?
10) You think your parents, friends and loved ones don't deserve to hear the good news first. Facebook does.

CANNES 2010 OFFICIAL LINE UP UNVEILED

To all movie enthusiasts and filmmakers, here’s the Official Selection at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival (May 12-23) was unveiled at midday today in Paris at the traditional press conference. Here is the list of films in the line-up:



Official Selection



Competition


Another Year - Mike Leigh
Biutiful - Alejandro González Inárritu
Hors-la-loi - Rachid Bouchareb
La princesse de Montpensier - Bertrand Tavernier
Poetry - Lee Chang-dong
The housemaid - Im Sang-soo
Outrage - Takeshi Kitano
Copie conforme - Abbas Kiarostami
Tournée - Matthieu Amalric
Uncle Boonmee - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Des hommes et des dieux - Xavier Beauvois -
La nostra vita - Daniele Luchetti
Un homme qui crie - Mahamat-Saleh Haroun
You: My Joy - Sergei Loznitsa
Utomlyonnye solntsem 2 - Nikita Mikhalkov
Fair Game - Doug Liman


Out of Competition

Robin des Bois - Ridley Scott
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger - Woody Allen
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - Oliver Stone
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps - Oliver Stone


Séance Spéciale

Nostalgia De La Luz - Patricio Guzman
Draquila - Sabina Guzzanti
Abel - Diego Luna
Inside Job - Charles Ferguson
Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow - Sophie Fiennes
Cineuropa.org

http://www.festival-cannes.com/en.html

New Phones Coming Out! (New Gadget Alert by May?!)

I've always loved having the latest phones.
Started with the N1600, N2110, N5110, N6110, ... don't remember anymore.
But most recently I had the weird opportunity of having 3 "Superphones".

Nexus One vs. Blackberry Bold 9700 vs. iPhone 3GS

Nexus One (Google Phone)
The Nexus One was beautiful, the screen and call quality were the best I've ever seen.
The integration with Google Apps was an important factor too as that's what I use.
It had a ton of applications as it was an open platform.
I even had an MP3 download application which gets files from the torrent.
It was too hard to type on though and battery life sucked.

iPhone 3GS
The iPhone 3GS was a tried and tested phone.
The "Jesus phone" as some would call it.
The first Superphone from the Gods at Apple.
I had the iPhone 2G, IPhone 3G and all my siblings use one.
It was great communicating with all of them for free using WhatsApp.

There was an app for everything. This was the major strength of the iPhone.
Battery life sucked too but typing was better than the Nexus One.

Blackberry Bold 9700
The Blackberry Bold 9700, the king of the Blackberry phones.
Some call it corny - especially those with razzle dazzle phones like the Nexus One and the iPhone but the BB was just too convenient.

Everything worked.
Battery life was more than enough and typing is the best.
As I said... everything just worked. Handfree in the car, Tethering through my laptop, Push email, synced calendars, synced contacts, shotcuts everywhere, it was like a car that never broke down, never let you down, made you comfortable and made everything easier. Probably like an Accord.

I ended up selling the Nexus One, giving the iPhone to i and keeping the Blackberry.
Once you go BB, you never go back... no wonder they call it Crackberry.

There are always new phones coming out but there are 2 I'm particularly interested in.
The iPhone 4G and the Blackberry slider.

Check out the images below from iClarified and Engadget. These are the "leaked photos". Both are supposedly coming out by mid this year, most estimate it this May/June. (It's already mid-April! OMG!)

BB Slider - bigger screen, same OS (just works), and the magical keyboard that made BB so addictive

iPhone 4G. Looks like a small iPad to me. (Wait, isn't everyone saying the iPad is like a big iPhone. Ok, I'm confused now.)

That's it for now.
Can't wait for the new phones to come out.

Like waiting for a baby to come out.
I think I'm pregnant.

This is N and I'm about to give birth.

Tell Me What You Want What You Really Really Want

I am at that age wherein most of my friends are either settling down or already trying to have a baby or at least in very serious relationships that COULD possibly turn into marriage. They think that they are ready to take that next step into being ADULTS.

As for me, I do not want that kind of responsibility in my life. I am not saying that my friends are heading the wrong direction because seriously, I would support them in all their decisions. I am simply saying that I want a different kind of life. It is not necessarily the better life, but it is the life I want. And I do not want to be judged with that.

It’s more of a question of what it is you really want in life.

When I met up with my friend Alf in Vegas last November 2009, we were talking about how different his life is with mine. There he was, in his 5 bedroom house living with his very beautiful wife Gail and his 3 lovely kids, shuttling himself from Vegas to LA and back to manage the company operations in both cities. While I… well, I can’t really say much about my life. hahaha

But seriously speaking, I have started making movies and been to a couple of international film festivals. I have seen Brad and George in person, have met directors like Pen-Ek Ratanaruang of Thailand, HOU Hsiao Hsien of Taiwan, Mohsen Makhmalbaf of Iran, have spoken to Darren Arronofsky (The Wrestler) and even Danny Boyle (The Beach, Slumdog Millionaire). More importantly, I have walked on a red carpet with lights flashing and people clapping!

 George Clooney and Brad Pitt

with Darren Arronofsky

with Dany Boyle

More importantly, I have been given the chance, the opportunity and the responsibility to be able to shoot films which hopefully could touch the hearts and minds of not just the Filipinos but other people from around the world. It is in having this privilege to tell stories that could hopefully influence, change, inspire others or simply make people laugh and cry, reminisce, find hope, share love, forgive and forget that I am most proud of.

This brings me back to my conversation with Alf. Back in 2002, he wanted to have a big family with Gail in the US while I wanted to go back to the Philippines to make movies. 8 years later, Alf and Gail now happily lives with their 3 kids – Avi and the twins, Amie and Aidan. While I am making movies, shooting in exotic locations, putting my life in danger, partying with friends, traveling and most importantly, meeting interesting people from all over the world.

That is the life he wanted. And that is the life he chose to live. And this is the life I wanted. So this is the life I’m living.

What about you? What is it that you really want in life?

Horsey, Horsey...

Just wanted to share with you a picture "f", my husband, took when we went to Batangas (based on what I said on my earlier post). It is one of the reasons why I love my friends place. Note that these horses are not the tiny Baguio type ones with dyed hair. These are HUGE race horses. Taller than me, or my husband even. And I love horses... but for the love of me I cannot seem to come close to any of them. They look like they can eat me alive. But maaan... they're gorgeous...

oh and they have over a hundred of these babies...

Great Friends

Our blog is suddenly so busy! We hope you like our 2 new contributors "n" and "c". They will give a whole new perspective that doesn't involve online shopping for things we can't have. Haha. But seriously, we hope you enjoy this little thing we are doing because there are more people to come... "n" and "c" are just a taste.


I was just recently with 2 of those new soon to be contributors together with husbandry over the weekend. I loooovveeee, love, love their family's resort house (mansion more like it. or no... acres of land maybe). I'm so glad I have rich friends. Haha! But seriously, besides the great digs, these are great people as well. It seems that the people we will have here at soapbox were meant to be together. We haven't been "barkadas" all that long but it seems as though it was all meant to be. We cannot go through a week without seeing each other. "N's' visit to the States was as hard on us as it was for "i" and he was gone all of 10 days. I love that we all have different opinions, different tastes and different ideas. But one thing we all have in common... as "n" so nicely put it... we all enjoy life. And that's just how all of us should be.

Picture, Picture! (New Gadget Alert!)

This is the first of my new gadget alerts.
"i" will not be amused as she is not particularly fond of my addiction.
But I just loooove new stuff.

This is entitled, "Picture! Picture!"

-----------------

I'm back!
Went into the slump of not bringing my camera anymore.
I felt everyone was bringing their camera anyway, and we all had the same camera too.
No use.

Also, by not bringing a camera, I'd be in the pictures!

Well, I'm back to taking pics again, guess how?!
By buying a new camera!

MMMMM.... here we go again, I really love the smell of new electronics.
Yes there is, try it, smell a new gadget, it has a distinct new smell.
Maybe even better than the Balikbayan box smell.
Believe me.

Bought the GF1.
It's part of the Micro-Four-Thirds phenomenon.
Supposedly able to pack the same quality of a dSLR into a smaller package with smaller lenses too.
Also, since it's not an SLR, I can't be classified into the Facebook Group --
"D porke may SLR ka, Photographer ka (Not because you have an SLR, it makes you a Photographer)"

Got the one with the 20mm (40mm equivalent) pancake lens and a telephoto 45-200 (90-400mm equivalent) for my Paparazzi shots.

I love it.

The Silver GF1 with 20mm pancake lens.

My paparazzi lens. A 90-400mm equivalent, take out the lens hood and its a very compact telephoto.

Some samples. I've never been able to take photos like these before.

New toy! Woot woot!

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN

Soapbox is simply unstoppable. After recruiting “n” as their first contributor, “i” talked to me about being part of their blog. She said that I could supply the dish on showbiz and entertainment. I told her I’d think about it.

Well, it didn’t take me long to join the bandwagon of clicking and blogging – something that “r”, “i” and “n” are just so good at!

So here I am, ready to face the challenge that “r”, “i” and “n” have given me. I am ready to take you to the world I live in – a world full of colors, shapes, angles and movements.

“r”, “i” and “n” all love to travel, to eat, watch movies, buy stuff, take photos, ponder about love, life, leisure and bitchfits. And so do I.

My name is “c”.

Catch me if you can. Only at soapbox.

I don't want to stop using anything.

I'm not sure how many readers we have, but I'm taking a chance anyway. If you're like me, who's never around the house, hates sleeping with the lights on, and likes to unplug everything before leaving her room, then you'd want to support this cause.

I've seen my Dad slave away just to provide us with a comfortable home, food and good education. I admire the way he just smiles and collects the billing statements we've pinned on his door cork board. And those are A LOT of bills. Electricity, cable, cellphone, credit cards, internet, association fees, tuition, water... I'm sure I'm missing a lot more. My siblings and I never had to pay for these bills, and I can imagine how awful it is to have to support 4 needy children all by yourself. I mean, c'mon. It pains me to even buy a pack of cigarettes, that I won't be sharing with anyone, with my own hard earned money.

We've never taken his generosity for granted. I think we're pretty responsible when it comes to using things moderately around the house.

But now, our ELECTRIC BILL has gone up. And I don't understand why. When I read this and this, I just felt so sorry for my Dad and all the other people who have bills to pay all together.

Soapbox is not a hater blog. But this issue has affected me way more than I ever thought it would, so I'm going to have to repost this and show my support/concern. If you are anything like me at all, please join the Facebook protest page.

MISSing MIAS

"Keeping it stock!"

This was my bold proclamation as I changed vehicles early this year. Albeit a hand-me-down, I promised myself I would take better care of this one.

My old baby became sick with all the Nip and Tucks I gave it.

Enough with the metaphors. With my old car, I went all out dressing it up. Changed almost everything I could change making it my "show-car". The car I've always dreamed about putting together back in highschool.

A manual with big wheels, low suspension, the "boomboom" heavy soundsystem and very thin tires, it wasn't exactly your daily driver.

I drive a lot for work going to my different customers throughout the city. My car's configuration didn't help the day get by any easier.

I miss it dearly though. It's the Manila International Auto Show (MIAS) this weekend. It was part of the dream to enter it in some kind of car show but thats over now.

My first line, "Keeping it stock", I have a story about that.

Next time.

This is N, missing MIAS.

*Here's a pic of my old car with my cousin's car in the BG, he's joining the MIAS this year.

By the way, Im still selling some of the items from that car.
Wheels - 19" Hartge Classic 2 Reps w/ Yokohama Advan Sport
Headlights - Umnitza Projector 90
Shift Knob - Hartge Original

Baboyfest at Mr. Jones

N:

i:


Nikki:



!!!

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Meralco, what is happening?

I just read this, and I am so disappointed. Please tell me this is some kind of FIXABLE technical glitch in Meralco's system. This is just crazy. People (most of them) don't just poop out money every time someone decides to hike up the prices. So unfair. I agree with Chuvaness. Wala bang politikong tutulong? Step up! This is worse than floods and earthquakes. This is injustice!

Click HERE to read more...

N

Love. Life. Leisure and Bitchfits.
That applies to me too.

I am now officially starting to contribute to Soapbox hoping it could get more readers - haha! I will introduce another dimension to the already mystifying and overly intriguing world of R and I.

I am N.

I love stuff. New stuff. The stuff that comes out of Balikbayan boxes and smells like "Amerika!" You know what I mean.

From gadgets to cars, shoes and bags, guy stuff and sometimes girly stuff even.

I am N, and I have invaded the Soapbox.

Sinangag Express

N has been battling his jetlag ever since he got back. After our breakfast at Andok's, Nic now had a craving for Sinangag Express. Not the one in Makati... The one all the way in BF, Parañaque (FYI, we are both from QC). Who was I to complain? I was missing that place too!

This is great drunk, hangover, or jetlag food right here. And it's only Php 60. So reminiscent of my college days.

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