Transformers 3

Agressive, huh?

 

Saw the movie @ on 3D IMAX @ SM City last night, and it was soooo worth the bucks for the advanced screening.

 

The plot: was kinda that subtle save-the-world-get-the-girl-guy-and-his-car/friend-and-guy-and-his-guy-issues. Yes, a plot we’ve seen countless times. But as one of my fave authors said, those are just the details. Now the story, that’s something else. This was exactly that.

 

New characters: With Transformers 3,this is undoubtedly the new girlfriend. I think the new girl is pretty gorgeous. Not to diss Megan Foxx, kudos to her for bringing in more to the girlfriend role in the first two transformers movies, but Rosie Whitely is like Megan Foxx with more class, I’d say. Anyway, I like it that she was able to pack in just the right amounts of sexy, playful, class and even some seriousness in the character. Not all hot and bothered and sexy like the girlfriend characters in the last two movies. This one’s like a breath of fresh air that you didn’t know you needed. I don’t think anyone thought the first girlfriend character needed any tweaking until Carly.

Yes, McDreamy was there but I don’t think Patrick Dempsey can play the sleazy bad guy half as well as he can play the heart of gold surgeon. A bit of a disappointment.

John Malkovich was there as well. This actor is incredible and I’m a huuuuge fan. That’s why I found myself wishing he had a bigger part in this installment. Well, maybe next time.

 

New bots: tons! the ickle ones get to see action, in fact play quite a big role though no one in the movie was aware of it. Unsung heroes, as it were.

Shockwave is this uber heavyweight decepticon which Optimus Prime destroys. No surprise there. 

Then there’s Sentinel, whose supposed to be the robot version of Einstein and the Autobot leader. We later on find out that he turns out to be traitor and was on his way to rendezvous with Megatron when he crash landed in the moon (ours) and Megatron crash landed on Earth. Yeah, this installment is all about our planet, our moon, us.

 

And the graphics: it was absolutely, positively, all around AWESOME. For every few minutes, all throughout the movie. I’m not a really big fan of IMAX or 3D, I thought super clear visuals and hyper sound was already great and didn’t see the need for something else. But IMAX 3D was built for this movie, so yes, splurge on this.

 

All in all, I’d say Michael Bay’s best yet.

 

Oh, and aside from the food pack (which doesn’t qualify as pack as it didn’t include drinks), they gave out Transformers buttons at the end of the movie. Ever lucky in these kinds of things, I was the only one to get a Bumblebee one in our party. Yay!

Angry Birds Peace Treaty

You know how video games tend to make you forget you’re annoyed (or other insignificant stuff like your homework or sleep)? Well, I was several levels past annoyed when a friend suggested I view this video. I laughed because who doesnt play Angry Birds not to mention it was among the first apps I downloaded into my iphone4, and this thing is brilliant! I laughed my head off. Here it is, it’s called Angry Bird Peace Treaty.

I swear, everything’s on youtube!

Our EPIC Adventure (part 2)

The Road Trip

We left civilization at around half past 9 in the evening on a Friday. Trekking shoes, sweats, long hair secured with dozens of no-nonsense black scrungies took the place of fancy frocks, heels and flowing hair. The drive to Zambales took about seven hours as it was raining and nothing can beat back the legendary Friday night traffic; we were to pick up one of our number along a drugstore where another one of us had to buy the all important socks he forgot to pack, veteran trekker that he was. Turns out he got socks and three bottles of vodka which, turns out, was to be consumed during the road trip. Us girls looked at them in disbelief as shots were poured on a metal water bottle cap. They assured us that we’d be sweating all the alcohol out of our system two hours into the trek, and besides, we had a driver, it was raining out, and it was a Friday Night. As they tend to in the face of Friday Night’s powerhouse persuasion, sound reasoning crumbled to dust like the dark spirits of two old *itches within my vicinity elsewhere. By time we got off the vehicle at Pundaquit, Zambales, to meet our mandatory guide it was around 4 AM, all the vodka was happily lounging in our systems along with several bags of chips and we’d all grabbed about half an hour of shut-eye each.

Everyone was just itty bitty tipsy and very much revved to get started – have to say, the vodka was to thank there otherwise we’d either be too nervous or totally zonked out as no decent person wakes up @4 in the morning on a glorious Saturday and we were all decent persons, so on behalf of all twenty-something (+1 thirty-ish who shall remain nameless for my safety) we thank the alcohol gods and godesses. Anyway, A and I quickly ate a small pack of yogurt as the guys in the party unloaded the vehicle. I just had time to gulp down two cans of energy drink and everyone hefted their packs. I took in the dark surroundings with anticipation and excitement in equal parts. Reveling on being at the edge of the wild, the coolness of the dark and being powered with all the rights things, I couldn’t wait to get started. We were going trekking.

 

Here we go: the Trek

We strapped on our headlights (flat flashlights that strap around your forehead. For the bankrupt in the creative department, you are morons for thinking of vehicle headlights strapped onto people), us newbies took a determined deep breath and we all started walking on sandy/rocky soil with knee-high weeds and some trees on either side of us. Before we were ten minutes into it, the ground turned to a rock-and-sand-mixture with soil sprinkled in for good measure, with little puddles of water for skipping over and fields of weeds taller than us. Trees crowding in a little on all sides let us know were out of the urban jungle and into the real thing.

Looming in the distance like an ominous giant mythical beast was a mountain-shaped blackness that was our destination. ‘Is that our destination?!’ I said with disbelief, knowing full well it was. A silently looked up at it then at me with the same disbelief, D laughed, and the guys chuckled as they said yes, but not to worry, it’s not that far. I never believed a word of it, but oddly enough, the distance and sheer size of the thing didn’t worry me then.

There was a lot of joking the entire time; I thought it was because everyone was still a little tipsy and a little adrenalin drunk – no one in their right mind could be that cheerful @4 in the morning, and without a single sign of civilization at hand. Or so I thought; apparently the guys were. Somewhere between the third and fifth clear puddle, the guys let us know that when they’d gone here earlier that year it had been dry as hell and there wasn’t a puddle in sight. Now it was flourishing. I vaguely wondered if this was good or bad, but at that point it wasn’t anything to worry about. On the contrary, the clear puddles with smooth stones beneath them were refreshing. We actually laughed and joked as we skipped and stomped and happily drew destruction to the pesky plants on our path.

 

 

I began to lose track of time from that moment on. After a while (half an hour? An hour? Two?) we entered the trees. By this time, we were just beginning to get light. It wasn’t hard to spot the track and walking up the mountain wasn’t tougher than anticipated, although maybe this was because I anticipated a lot, I don’t know. The guys were nice enough to bring up the tail end of the group although at that time I thought it was only just because they were the instigators of the trip. (Looking back, I now appreciate it as I realize how much more fun it could’ve been for them to not have to wait around for us all the time) Needless to say, those jokes, combined with the breathtaking view, gave us a very clear sense of the purpose of such trips: the enormity of the beauty of nature, and undeniable but rarely realized fact that life has to be lived, just much as you can manage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I never really noticed when it was fully light, and I didn’t look behind me for a while, although when I did, boy was I surprised. I hadn’t realized how far and up we’d gone – I couldn’t even see where we had started off; it was mountains and greens and sky all around and up and down. It was beauty wherever we turn.



 

 

The only sound were us climbing, a meter or two apart, and nature. It was beautiful, and peaceful, and you’re guaranteed to forgot how tired your legs are – I instantly did. As I was soaking up nature all around us, one of guys remarked ‘told you it would be a milestone, didn’t I?’. I couldn’t agree more. We’d been labouring upward for hours, not really daring to look up to the summit which was our destination, but boy, stopping for a while and finally having a look around…  seeing that unspoilt beauty made me forget absolutely everything else. To my astonishment, finding myself suddenly unquestionably and so powerfully surrounded in nature was surprisingly energising. Standing on the slope of that mountain, feeling as much as seeing nature so strongly present, I felt contained in nature, I can’t find a better suited word.

We suddenly had the energy to really laugh at the corniest of jokes the two ‘sweepers’ (those self-designated to bring up the rear) freely threw at us even as we sat flopped down right where we were standing, climbed trees, ate energy and chocolate bars, took swigs of Gatorade, even made a phonecall or two triumphantly announcing to the world that we were in fact climbing this green mountain.

 

 

Rested, we moved on. After all, we were yet to reach the summit, and our adventure wasn’t nearly done yet…

Our EPIC Adventure (part 1)

Last year I did something I always dreamt of doing but never actually thought of doing: I went on a trekking/camping trip.

I’ve done (done as opposed to went being the key here) two kinds of camping before: the in-door girlscout camping held within the school grounds in gradeschool where our houseboy set-up the tent I shared with my friends (basically filled with the portable radio & TV, Nintendo Gameboy and boardgames) and my mother oversaw cooking of our food; and the ‘camping’ my sister and I and MX did at home: within the grounds of the property, with a huge canvas set up by our houseboys as tent (we had that blue light thing that kills mosquitos, an electric fan, a huge huge comforter that we shared, and body pillows) where we would spend the night after we roasted jumbo hotdogs on long sticks and open fire, both prepared by the same houseboys.

Though I played a lot of sports growing up, I was far from what you’d call the outdoorsy nature-girl type. My physical activities leaned towards a couple of hours or an entire day on a court or track or site and then a nice long shower with music blaring from the bathroom speakers and on to the comfort of my bed; besides, I had been trading the hours of good sweat and exercise for good books and hours of sleep the past couple of years. So no, I wasn’t very excited when a friend told me that they’d be revisiting a camping site and that we (me and two other girlfriends) should come along. But as this kind of things go, something’s mentioned to you (and in this case it was pitched) and you shoot it down but it stays at the back of your head and wouldn’t go away. Said girlfriends and I talked about it: D was all for it, A was 50-50, while I was contemplating living without a bathroom, never mind a real bed. The deal was sealed when the guys triumphantly told us that there would in fact be a bathroom, albeit a small one, and that they’d take care of the roughing it part while us girls just take it easy and absorb nature.

The bug started. We had scattered meetings all over the place and over IMs and texts, and acquired trekking shoes and gear. Excitement mounted when the guys ‘briefed’ us that our trip would consist of a night road trip lasting 6 to 7 hours, a thirds of the trekking would be assault (turns out this meant uphill. Airsoft player that I am, you can imagine the funny images of BDUs and guns while trekking that my head came up with here), a third downhill and a third walk on even ground, lunch on a beach, and around an hour and a half on small boats to Nagsasa Cove where we would camp. It was to be a beach with some forest behind it, where there was a waterfall. Credit where it’s due: the guys did give us something to really look forward to.

We were assured and reassured and again that it wasn’t as tough as whatever we were thinking but that we did have to start walking/jogging for around half an hour a day until the trip, which was about two weeks away. A and I did just that, walk/jog, plus some did some weight training and I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised that my guns were still there and functioning although under a thick layer chubbiness (as opposed to fat. Hey, you have to be as politically correct as possible in this civilized time). Whenever we wanted to desert training, the thought of communing with nature and walking through a forest kept us powered. It was going to be a real experience, we agreed, and we want to come home from it not die on a mountain trail.

Early morning before the day of the trip, A and I finally got to sitting down together before a PC to get some info on the trekking (by this time and despite the guys’ assurance, a case of the worries about actually trekking on a mountain were getting through as it was wont to do on city girls). Then a sit on the net told us in loud letters: Mt. Pundaquit @Anawangin is not for beginners. Our jaws dropped as we stared at each other. That was our destination, and we were most definitely beginners. There was a lot of arguing after that (mostly me and A against the instigator guys), but in the end we decided, what the hell.

(to be continued on my next blog. With pictures!)

 

2011

No matter how many times I’ve said it, I still feel I have to say it again – and this probably wont be the last time: I wish I could blog so much more often!!

If only I could spend at least an hour or two a day to blogging, I’m quite sure I’d be one happy camper (one because that I’ve got stuff to blog about and I very seldom blog unhappy stuff! two, I’m blogging at least once a day because I’ve got tons of happy stuff going on and I’m so rolling in dough that I pretty much don’t care about anything but blogging!) But back to the plane of reality, to traffic at Katipunan, to hours with the punching bag that I can’t seem to find, to people so evil it’s hard to believe they aren’t f*****g demons. So, that off my chest, let’s go to 2011!

To kick off my very first blog of 2011: I had a great Christmas season – wait, that’s 2010 and for another blog. So, to 2011. First things first and of importance to the female population of the world: colour of the year!

It’s called (drumroll) honeysuckle. Not hot pink, people, honeysuckle. I like that word, I really do, kinda makes you hungry, the colour certainly is to die for. Pantone released said colour of the year and the exact shade is this:

I love this one

Have to say, its a boost up from last year’s turquoise. Haven’t got nearly enough accessories in this colour to date, but I’m confident I will pretty soon. In fact, I just realized this is a near perfect match to the stack of post-its I’ve accumulated last year! So yes, you can bet I’ll be making use of that. Just occurred to me someone made a gift of a quality shawl to me for Christmas, and it’s honeysuckle. Cheers!

To another thing a lot of people look to on a daily basis: Horoscope. Even someone who isn’t an avid fan of this should know this: a new star sign has been added to our star charts! Weird, right? It’s called Ophiucus, and this is what I’ve got on the topic, off Wikipedia:

It is located between Aquila, Serpens and Hercules, northwest of the center of the Milky Way. The southern part lies betweenScorpius to the west and Sagittarius to the east. It is best visible in the northern summer and located opposite Orion in the sky. Ophiuchus is depicted as a man grasping a serpent; the interposition of his body divides the snake constellation Serpens into two parts, Serpens Caput and Serpens Cauda, which are nonetheless counted as one constellation.

I dunno about you guys but what’ll stay with me about this new star, Ophiucus, is what MX, one of my cousins, told me about it. This was how our conversation went:
MX: You didn’t know that? That there’s a new star sign?
Me: What? (disbelief) The hell. What’s it called?
MX: Ophiucus, afer Optimus Prime

So there. Before, I didn’t like my decisions being influenced because of something I read – you follow the horoscope or you take the other route specifically to counter the horoscope, but either way it greatly influenced your decision making! Now, I have another reason not to read horoscope: I wouldn’t want to be influenced by Optimus Prime. I mean, red, blue, yellow, silver… he’s nearly got the entire color wheel there…

Now to another area of interest to most Filipinos, Fil-Am personalities. Charice Pempengco, or simply Charice as she’s now called, was among the 11 to watch out for in 2011 of E! This is some source of pride as she looks so Filipina and yes, moves much like one. It’s no secret I waited by the minute for her Glee episode and my only disappointment was that she didn’t spend the whole episode singing, but I can live with that. I sure hope she gets at least two more episodes there this year. This is hopeful, so let’s wait. Some people have also told me that Mark Salling, who plays Puck in Glee, spent Christmas at Boracay West Cove. Apparently, when his flight out was delayed he supposedly tweeted something like: another day in paradise. Also, he supposedly he caught our Pound for Pound King, Manny Paquiao, there and our champ obliged for a pic and even paid for the guest’s meal – now that’s a world class Filipino. No, I’m not a stockholder or promotions officer of Boracay West Cove, but yes, ‘paradise’ was my exact word for the place the first moment I got there, and resounding yes, every Filipino should go there at least once in their lifetime. It’s one of the most beautiful places you’ll ever go to, Miami beach included. People, the Brangelina bunch vacationed there, its that great. It’ll be something akin to a bloodbath to get reservations for the summer, so book yours now. If you’re lucky, they’ll still have a room or two open. And you may even catch a glimpse of Paquiao, one of the owners, there, now that is what I call incentive.

To the must have gadget. Yes, yes, I know the iPhone4 was released last year, but as the apple tag line says, this changes everything, again. They sell the 16Gb at Greenhills for only 37,500.00 and I say only 37,500.00 because it goes for 39,950.00 at Globe. Is it worth it, time will tell. But it certainly is an eye candy; so much so that for me it carries over as the 2011 must have gadget – to date at least. So I’m all set for 2011 as I just got mine, and I looove it! I deliberated over the color for a while – I’d normally pick black without a second thought, but this time I hesitated. Both looked good when I hold it in my hand with my beloved 8801 – and theres no way that I’ll replace that phone unless my father gives me his Sirocco or Ferrari Vertu – so I had a problem.

The ultimate in glamorous basic mobile phones. No fussy apps, no fancy cases, just pure class.

The metal strip at the side of the iPhone 4 made the decision for me. If you look at the iPhone 4 from the side, with the metal strip in the spotlight, the white suddenly looks tacky, at least for me. Just as suddenly, the black one killed.

I originally wanted to post a picture of my black iPhone4, but I also wanted to take the said pic with my iPhone4's HD cam. Seeing as thats impossible, I just posted one off the web

I’ve had my phone since Friday night and I must admit we haven’t spent a lot of time apart yet, and won’t until about after a month or two. I’ve still got tons to load into the monster memory space…

My cousin MX did the jailbreak for me (what is past tense for that, jailbreak?) like he did the jailbreak of all the iPods of our side of the family. He even gave me ringtones of my choice! Five stars for MX.

My sister is considering the Galaxy which would be so useful to a med student like her mainly because it’ll carry her ebooks and allow for bigger fonts while reading them as opposed to her iPod touch, but then she’d be a funny sight what something that huge pressed to her ear, right. (lols) The ipad would be great but it isn’t a phone and a bit too big for her to tuck into her scrub suit and smuggle into the OR during operations. I told her to look into HTC, but I don’t think she’s buying. I think the Galaxy would be great, if you don’t mind talking into a mobile phone with a size that shouldn’t be mobile. Maybe we’ll get a perfectly sized one soon.

And I’ve still got tons of stuff to do, so it’s bye until, hopefully, next week!

Summer stretches forever…

Came across some pics and I suddenly realized that yes, dammit, it’s as summer as summer gets right now so everyone go outdoors, bask in the sun or soak in the waters and have tons of fun with a capital F with absolutely no thought for school, work or the like all day! To justify this, here are said pics:

to give credit where its due, learned this one from a very good friend. Though she’d probably endlessly lecture me on minding how I look when doing this shot.

I look absolutely hideous here with light causing all sorts of distortions and undue shine (well... maybe not undue. Or untrue...), but I still like it

Tell me this never crossed your daydreams…

(note: not advertising a particularly good brand of flavoured vodka, just so we're clear)

and don’t ever think of denying you’ve tasted dirty ice cream as a kid; we had this before Tom n Jerry’s and Haagn-Dazs  arrived in the country, and we loved it!

(from chicogarcia.wordpress.com) brings back childhood, doesn't it?

You know that monster of a sandcastle lit with torches that tourists flock at Miami beach? We have a smaller version @ Bora. Seen it before, but no matter who I’m there with, they always, always, insist on having a pic with it… go figure. As I’m more or less not thrilled by it, I cropped most of the castle out (lol) how’d you see me otherwise??

@ night by that sandcastle @bora that's ALWAYS there

You know how your hair is never ever behaved when your on the beach but its all right, quite all right actually, just because you’re on the beach? This one’s a picture perfect example of that

now we've got just the right shine here, courtesy of Body Shop's Dry Olive Oil Mist, my fave

and when you’re secretly not comfortable with riding a small boat to the next island, this pair of YSL sunglasses will nicely cover that fact, and give you a pound of style

to Samal Island w/ D aboard an itty bitty boat

This one was taken on a trip to Cavite. Gorgeous light, wouldn’t you say (just don’t pay much attention to my pose here…)

I don't have an effin' clue what sort of pose I was striking here, an' only w/ a Bishop!

the kind of shot you get when you’ve spent the night with Jose Cuervo, music in the background, an assortment of grilled food before you and a bunch of funny people – and you have to get up at 6AM the next morning, and you wanna play with the camera again

needless to say, @ Island cove

These are two really just letting out their frustration that we got locked out of our house, and its dinner time and mother has the keys (the other sets are inside the house, which we forgot to bring with us in case we get home before she does, which is exactly what happened, and which got us told off) and she isn’t home yet. In short, yes, they were going bonkers

cousins Shaun and Matt after an afternoon of war games

a shot of the girls on that night with Jose

(we reserve all the right that these here are in fact not us, but groggy look alives with no sense of style whatsoever)

I realized too late that the white specs on the lower left were dolphins! You wouldn’t believe how I kicked myself for this

view from the resto of Bohol Bee Farm

one should not go through life without tasting the flower salad, tastes best during the summer. Its refreshing, and surprisingly spicy! yum!

said flower salad, during summer

When your friend insists on going swimming and she hasn’t got a single pair of swim suit, and has only a vague and very general idea on the concept of swimming, and I have a cam, this is what you get:

yes, she has socks on

and this is what happens after a seafood feast of a dinner, on a bamboo rack with a hut perched on it, floating along an unbelievably peaceful ocean – and you feel like posing for the cam

no, no photoshop involved. water looks great, doesnt it

I think Tarsiers are nearly extinct, so they are being well cared for by the Boholanos (if thats not the word for it, then we’ll just call them the people of Bohol). Some facts:

1. they commit suicide when subjected to much noise

2.you wouldn’t believe how light and fragile they are to the touch

3.theres  a soft spot smack center of the head where there is  hollow on their skull

4.its against the law to take ‘em out of Bohol

5.if you wanna get your picture with a tarsier, you have to shed some bucks

6. and you can’t touch ‘em as they’re nearly extinct, very fragile and just that precious

7.I touched ‘em as shown in this picture because yes, I am a VIP (wink wink)

cant go to bohol without an encounter with the tarsier

close of of the tarsier, and the shot you get when you’re not a VIP like some, ahem, people

you can tell it doesn't like being disturbed much

packing up after a day of war games. I’m wearing my flag jacket to cover up how transparent my inner shirt had become during the course of the afternoon (yes, damn hot) and one of the players who shall remain nameless, kept following me around and singing the national anthem, the moron

from top L: me, matteo, my sister B, and Shaun

Airsoft is fun when the people you’re playing with are doing so for fun. There’s so much more comedy than you could ever imagine. A useful thing an airsoft veteran taught me: when the game starts and people are turning around and running for cover, run forward and keep tabs on as many opponents as you can. And of course take ‘em down right away if you can; after all, the game HAS started. And unlike other games it’s so much fun playing newbies, this is something you have to experience to truly appreciate.

when the two teams confirm by yellong 'mask down!' and the marshal yells 'game', you run for your life

This dude is an airsoft legend in the country. He also sets up all of our airsoft guns, advises us as to anything and everything airsoft, and he’s won the airsoft costume thing for YEARS. Oh, and this gun is used by his kid, Kim. That girls the devil with this thing!

w airsoft legend kuya larry @the Maynilad gamesite. That multi-color water gun-looking this is an airsoftgun capable of firing bbs at 500fps. the model for looks can be deceiving

Some of his winning costumes. You can tell that he really puts in the effort. By the way, credit where its due – I grabbed these from various sites and I cant remember them anymore.

He’s the one on the ground dressed as an abu sayyaf. There was also a pic of him with a 9210mobile phone and burger, whilst in costume. It was really a funny pic, that one

the caption for this was: sinamaKitaTaposIkawNanaloEtoSayo (lol)

closer shot. tell me you wouldnt mistake him for the real thing? he had to go barefoot for this one

nice, eh?

Decide for yourself how kickass this one is. His model is right there on the lower left hand

as a navy seal

to one of my great love: vehicles. Another brilliant way to actually ENJOY the SUN and HEAT, is to be behind a steering wheel- preferably with the vehicle moving in high speed. And to all the chauvinists out there, whenever a female can drive, she can drive like hell. Point in case is our kart team. Our, yes, all girls team made the finals and placed, thank you very much. In fact, my sister and I tied for fastest lap honors during the eliminations.

w/ my sister and her venom crash helmet during the final round of the inter-school kartfest

L to R: my sister, Pam, Krish and Me

thats organizer and pinoy racer JP Tuason congratulating us (drivers in red button downs over the racing suit, rest of the team in black team shirts). Now famous pinoy racers like mateo were students of his

Now. If that didn’t make you want to get out of the house/building/bunker/garage/whatever else it is that you’re under and have a huge doze of FUN during these summer days, then you’re completely and utterly hopeless!

Continue having a great summer, guys!

cramming

Haven’t blogged for ages and as I’m so busy these days and I’m not quite sure when I’d be able to update again, I decided to squeeze in assortment of things for this entry so bear with me.

First: going to the advanced screening of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. So excited. Apparently, the Vatican Paper, L’Osservatore Romano, hailed the latest movie installment to the HP Series. According to the paper, The Half-blood Prince shows a clear picture of the battle of good versus evil and that sometimes sacrifices are entailed for good to triumph. The same paper says the movie depicted an accurate picture of adolescent love as well.

I’m not quite sure as to the opinion about the good versus evil thing – isn’t it more interesting when Harry is confronted with his inner battles about this (remember those instances when he thinks he’s turning bad, or Voldemort is controlling him, or he thinks a part of him is from Voldemort?) As to the depiction of adolescent love, come on! Book 6 was Ron and Hermione getting together and Harry and Ginny getting together – in the last chapters! This isn’t a big thing in the book, I sure hope they wouldn’t make it so in the movie. And with L’Osservatore Romano hailing it, well the paper isn’t exactly a great movie critic paper…

Nonetheless, I’m ditching tomorrow to get ready for the premiere!

 

Two: haven’t played airsoft for ages, for a various thousand reasons. Great way to pass the time as it is, I have to say I’m not really missing it much, primarily because I’ve been spending Sunday mornings hunting for exotic plants @ the Sunday market @ the Lung Center, and the rest of the day hunting up other stuff to put in my garden. The area is roughly 200 square meters, I think, so it’ll be a real challenge and if I had my way I’d be spending every minute working on it for months. So far we’ve decided to make wide terraces with the slope and to go with a distinct asian theme. Not the millions of greens everywhere type; less but not exactly minimalist, if you get my drift. So far my biggest obstacle is doing the fountain as I can’t find neither dark sheet rocks to stick together to make 2feet by 2feet boxes with them or ready made stone/concrete boxes like it (it’ll serve as fountain, well, three of those set in decreasing height – starting at around 5feet – will serve as my fountain), and deciding on my patterns – I want different colored pebbles arranged in artful way but I also want clean lines and nothing that’ll crowd the eye. The patio and greenhouse should be a peice of cake – of course I could always be mistaken, but you know what they say about aiming for the stars and landing on the roof. I’ll post a picture of my garden here when I finish it. If anyone’s got suggestions, please.

 

Three: I’m looking for a new pair of heels for ages and ages now! Not just any pair of heels, red ones. I have to have one for a lot of reasons:

     1. red is my favorite color

     2. it’s red! everyone has to have a pair of to-die-for heels

     3. it’ll go absolutely perfectly with my carved red coral bracelet

     4. It’ll kill even with just plain jeans and white collars, Gucci earrings and rings 

     5. my father just got me a white Gucci bag with red patent leather trim last night! 

So you see, I just have to have one. I’m checking out Aldo’s tomorrow. I really, really hope they have one that I’ll like…. SOS to the shoe lovers in the Manila, any other suggested stores?

 

Four: the usual IGT entry which I hope girls would find useful: You know how you want to wear red lipstick? Not brick red, but red red -  that’s the one, well you know how you want to wear it (you know you want to, we all want to wear red lipstick) but come across a series of things that keep you back ? (will it suit me? Do I even have a prayer of pulling it off? What clothes do I wear it with? Make-up style? etc, etc.) 

Well, here are a few things to know about red lipstick – and when I say red I don’t mean sissy red, we’re talking red Red here, all right: 

     1. it’s Red, and like all things Red, few people can wear it and look good. Luckily, there are some reds which are a tiny bit more subtle than Red, and sometimes this makes all the difference. Remember, when we’re talking about Red,  we’re talking about the exemption rather than the rule. Try it on and see what suits you. If you can pull off red Red, wear it.

     2. I’m neither a stiff penny-pincher or a spendthrift but I find it’s always wise to spend on specific things, one of which are those that are for me – really, why would you try to spend less on yourself? I’m not big on make-up, my staples are lipstick and lipshine and loose powder, which I guess is why I findthat  spending on these things make sense. With lipstick, I’ve tried all the best brands and I can personally vouch for Shiseido. It’s smooth, has this luxurious moisture, smells nice and as intense red as you get – it even stays on even after I’ve had breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacks. Seriously (forget about smudge proof, there’s no such thing yet, but along wit the rest of womankind, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for that). I use the Rouge Authentique before, I’m now using Perfect Rouge from their new line. It’s twice as expensive as Mac but it’s worth every penny.

     3.   Putting it on and getting it to stay on. This starts with application and which has to be maintained throughout the day (not so much with Shiseido. that PhP 1,500 not looking so expensive now, right). Using lip brush makes the lipstick stick to your lips better so this is advisable. After applying your color with a lip brush (evenly. cover all areas, don’t be afraid to reach into the corners it won’t kill you), blot it with tissue (or with a towellete to be used only and only for this purpose) until very little lipstick transfers on the tissue/towellete. Smack your lips. Check that you don’t go over your lip line, unless you did that intentionally; check if there are any on your teeth. Lipstick on your boyfriend’s crisp collars and on coffee mugs/champagne goblets are sexy (especially with dramatic exits) lipstick on the teeth aren’t.  

     4. Gloss. I use Soap & Glory’s Sexy Motherpucker (I’m not swearing, that’s what it’s called). Get the Plum Juice. I love this one; the shine is perfect, and it’s got a bit of a minty feel to it. This was a gift from one of my bestfriends and sooner than I would have wanted I had to hunt around for a second tube, which was a miserable failure. But life must go on and I hunted, and found MAC Lipglass. I suggest Tittle Tassle, which is basically the color of raw flesh (sounds disgusting, but no worries, it looks great with Red  lipstick) and gives your red lips a more vibrant feel, or the Ample Pink (pink; if this isn’t self explanatory for you there’s absolutely nothing I can do for you) which makes you look a bit more womanly (as opposed to vibrant). But nothing beats Sexy Motherpucker for sultry. I wish they’d open up shop here soon or I’d have to resort to having them shipped over, which is such a pain. Apply at the inner center of your lower lip and at the very center of upper lips. This is one of the few instances where less is more. And I’m later tonight I’m placing an order for several tubes of Sexy Motherpucker.

     5. Show it off. Smile. Don’t press your lips together and look like you’re holding back puking. Don’t hold back. Dazzle. But don’t go overboard either; remember that when you smile, you’re showing off your teeth and lips, not your gums.

     6. Or steal attention with a pout. Delivered just right, this can bring down empires. Don’t just press your lips tightly and shoot dagger looks at your boyfriend who forgot that it was your tenth-day anniversary; plump up lips, don’t clamp them together but gently press them together with increasing pressure so that a millimeter or two of your inner lips show, suck your cheeks in just an itty bitty bit, send ONE resentful look at your hubby (make sure he sees it) and then refuse to look at him ever again until he goes down on both knees or presents you with a Louis Vuitton Min Lin.

Warning: I don’t mean to be a b***h but pouting only works if you’ve got the looks and attitude to back it up. Otherwise, stick with the smile.

 

Four: the usual funny entry. 

I guess I’m a bit green minded ‘cos apparently your’re not supposed to see any green stuff at all. But I maintain that no matter how you squint, you’ll see the green stuff:

 

And fifth: I’m trying to make the cl0thes of my beloved poopy doggie (he’d probably scratch my eyes out if he only heard my nickname for him from a human ear but well…) myself! No, I havent posted any pic of that here and it would probably be several hundred tries and some help from professionals before I do so! 

McLaren adverts

The McLaren group does really good work of using their famous drivers in their adverts – and with F1 car unveiling like theirs, really, did we expect anything less of McLaren?. Here are a couple, starring my favorite F1 driver, Kimi.

This is for Nescafe. Note the pitcrew in the background, clad in Ferrari scarlet – hahaha!

 

I’m not quite sure if this had been filmed while he’d still been in McLaren, but I find it nice nonetheless – Kimi, as Taxi driver, is absolutely cute in this one.   

 

This one’s pretty upfront, for Mercedes:

I’d say the McLaren Group makes really nice adverts – and not just of Kimi, though my faved are definitely those of him. Here’s a really amusing one starred in by two F1 World Champions (like Kimi) but put together was a disastrous pair for McLaren:

The song perfectly described the relationship between them as team mates, don’t you think?

Not for Lack of attempts

So I’m convinced that we will never have a picture where everyone on the team is there – because we’ve attempted it so many times, to no success! There’s always a cam, three people are unbelievably always cam-ready (it takes Anne, Ana & Erap about all five seconds of it look decent and trike up a smile and a pose)  but somehow, we never get a good shot. Here are some of our attempts at a complete attendance shot:

TOP.L-R: Erwin.Vlad.Erap.Ana.Frias. BOTTOM, L-R: Richelle.Kay.Shaun

This was taken two Sundays ago, and believe it or not only four were missing from our number that day, and two of those are the two kids, Mat & K2.

Here's another

from our earlier days of playing airsoft

and here’s another…

@ the forest

pictures…

@ PugadLawin

As you can see, we didn’t really have time to pose for this one. If I recall correctly, someone just shouted: photo op! and we all looked on instinct…

that's Tyra on Papa's left

I don’t think this really counts as we’re only half in uniform…

And now I gotta end this post because I’ve tons of other stuff to do – that and I’m starving

My Team

 

I’ve been thinking of writing about the people which make up our airsoft team for a while now but haven’t been able to come up with a decent intro, so I finally decided to just plunge on ahead without any (some of the pics are taken with a phone, thus blurred, but you get the general idea of what they look like):

 

*my papa!*

There’s my father, (they call him SirBoy) who is the team Alpha. He’s the team leader and so bosses everyone around, even people from other teams. Not that we’re complaining, especially since we rarely follow our own game plans and instead opt to cause mayhem and snicker as we shoot at whoever we want to anyway. And it’s plain cool that while everyone’s supposed to freeze as a car goes by he doesn’t care and peeks and plots;

 

*Erwin*

Kuya Erwin is second in command, Beta, I guess you’d call him. He’s the one whose most serious about airsoft that he actually arranged his work schedule around game dates; he’s the one whose always muttering about one part of his gun or another not doing what it should, the one who wouldn’t forget to secure the ice chest filled to the brim with Gatorade but would show up for a game and promptly leave again because he forgot his gun’s battery or some other gear. He also made me a pair of those straps that go beneath your knees, holding your pants up in place (thanks for that, kuya Erwin!);

 

*vlad*

*matik*

There’s Vlad & Matic, and though sound very much like it, no they’re not goons. Seriously, these two are at least five feet nine inches high, very well built and could take on you without the high-powered (and heavy) airsoft guns we make them lug around. Both has military background and wear the team uniform (tan TACOPS with matching tan boots, thank you very much) best and by this I mean really, really well. It-never-wrinkles-on-them-all-day kind of well. I once asked these two to be my support (as I planned to assault even though our team was designated as the defense team for that game) and I never saw them again until after the end of that game. When I demanded where they’d been, Vlad told me that what I said was for them to ‘keep me in their sights’, which apparently they did from fifteen away and hidden in trees, cabinets and bushes;

*Arlan*

Kuya Arlan is the good guy. He follows rules, he’s a nice guy, reliable and up front. If he has anything negative to say about you it only means that you’re an evil person, no excuses;

*Anne*

Anne, my sister. She plays whenever she can, which is quite rare as she’s busy with Med school. She’s kinda the baby of the group as she’s youngest and papa always asks someone to keep an eye on her (less and less by now, which is good). I’ve seen a lot of funny stuff happen during games and one of the funniest so far was here running down a grassy slope, tripping, tumbling (quickly protectively hugging her Galil) and seamlessly getting up again, all the while running;

*Frias*

(speaking of evil persons…. kidding!) there’s our second Erwin, whom everyone calls Frias (his last name) to his face, and VIP otherwise (hahaha, kidding, kidding). This guy can run. Or maybe I keep thinking it’s him that I see running when in fact it’s Kuya Arlan I’m seeing, or it’s kuya Arlan running like hell and I just think it’s Frias because they kind of look a bit alike in full TACOPS. Come to think of it, I think that I always call him ‘kuya Arlan’ during games… if so, sorry, dude… ;

 

*Ana*

Ana & Richelle are my girls; they’re both built pretty much the same way and that’s where the similarities end.

Ana’s the rah-rah-rah type and if you wanna do a Rambo move you wanna have this girl by your side, but I have to say she’s most dangerous when not in play (she’s prone to shooting people while we’re having a break, believe it or not she even managed to shoot herself with a long barrel LR300. I’d bet she’s the only person who could do that, then again I count that as points for uniqueness, if she got some sort of mark from that it would probably be the crown jewel of conversation pieces). 

 

*Richelle*

 

Richelle, on the other hand, goes for self preservation first and is somewhat reserved. If you can imagine a soft-spoken lady clad in BDU lugging an ‘enemy gun’ (cool AK), then you could picture Richelle. I’ve partnered with both of them and we always manage to have fun, and thanks for the birthday song, girls! (celebrated my birthday @ Sulô Hotel recently and even though I explicitly told my father I didn’t want anyone to sing to me but yes I definitely want the cheesecake, Ana orchestrated a full birthday song: she walked to me, cocktail cheesecake in her hands complete with a candle as she widely smiled and lead the singing, pretty much the entire staff of the hotel behind her, and three kind of live instruments playing in the background, grand piano included. Richelle, on the other hand, kept singing ‘happy birthday to you!’ now and again, over and over through the course of the night) They’re pretty much like that even in games;

 

 

*Night*

 

 

there’s Night, who after all is the night manager of Sulô Hotel, and got the full impact of being Erap’s buddy on his very first game with us, while wearing jeans instead of TACOPS uniform, and lacking a balaclava. On his very first game. He was the first to loudly blow the whistle on Erap: ‘leave no man behind ha!,  as he showed everyone exactly where the BBs hit him (and you can see exactly where it hit), while the rest of us rolled over in laughter because, of course, we know exactly what happens to you when you partner Erap;

 

 

*Shaun*

there’s Shaun, my cousin, who, I have to admit, seems to improve his game by the minute. Not only does he not fit in with stereotypes, he’s a paradox of the usual – ‘round 5feet 8inches high, majors in IT, plays basketball every summer, fond of his PSP , was on the swim team, loves his ipod, goes to gym regularly and absolutely loves his custom-painted, 500fps plus LR300. This is how he is with playing airsoft too. With his LR having that kind of fps you’d think he’d stay behind; he’s usually at the forefront once the whistle sounds, or a close second. Shaun in a game, it’s pretty much like this: now you see him, now you don’t;

*Jerome*

*Erap*

Erap & Jerome, brothers.

Erap, I think, really loves the game. Jerome loves it as well, but probably not as much as he loves criticizing how everybody else plays it (hahaha). Erap, true to name, loves his one-liners: ‘let’s move out, boys. And girls’ (added as an afterthought, of course, in all seriousness)’, ‘cover me’, ‘buddy tayo, sagot kita, bro’ (and he’d promptly and silently disappear soon as the BB’s fly in your direction). Everyone who partners him sooner or later finds out exactly what’s it’s like to have no buddy. Come to think of it, if you partner Erap, sooner or later you get into trouble like Kuya Erwin partnered him and minutes later fell through a mat and smashed his covered knee against some metal. I don’t know how it happens but something is guaranteed to happen to you if you partner our Erap;

 

 

 

*Me!*

This is me! I don’t really have a good idea of how to describe myself as part of this team or as an airsoft player except that I do this for fun and am most comfortable playing with my team and the WarVets.

 

*Mat*

*K2*

Matteo and Roquito. Cousin and nephew, 11 and 6 years old respectively. Mat never hits anyone because he’s always under cover, while roquito always gets hit because he’s the epitome of the word ‘assault’. I think Mat has grasped the concept of pain and pride that goes with not being tagged by the opposing team, while k2 hasn’t yet and probably feels like he’s in one of his PSP games on airsoft games. It’s always fun to watch these two play, and not just for us; we’ve had tons of people grinning as they watched these two play, especially k2 who tends to leave behind his father, our kuya. I get extra exercise running after him during games because he just won’t sit still and would unconsciously insist on being point.

*Kuya*

Oh, and there’s kuya, who sometimes plays and usually doesn’t. Took him quite a long time to come and play (we’re talking months after he’s gotten his guns, gear and BDU) because he thought getting hit by BBs would hurt and playing airsoft wouldn’t really be fun. Needless to say, he’s changed his mind.

So that’s our airsoft team! Made up of all sorts of people gathered together to have fun. Oh, and another thing we have in common is that we all love to eat, and speaking of which, we’re to have another barbecue on Sunday!