Let's go, Liverpool!

I never thought I would see the day. Liverpool made history by blasting four goals against the legendary Real Madrid and handing the Galácticos their worst defeat in the Champions League.

I had high hopes for Liverpool to make it through to quarterfinals after they took a 1-0 advantage in the first leg of their clash with Real Madrid. But a 4-0 win was definitely not something I expected. So it was an incredibly pleasant surprise when I checked the news out this morning. What makes it even better is Torres and Gerrard both scored goals (Gerrard actually scored two) and when the dynamic duo of Liverpool are in scoring form, it's a good sign for the entire team.

I hope that they can take their Champions League success back home to England. They have a massive clash against Manchester United on Saturday, and a win will reduce the lead that Man U currently have as they sit comfortably at the top of the league table. I am still hoping Liverpool can go on a massive winning streak in England and take the Premiership title this season. Not the best odds of that happening but I will be keeping my fingers crossed...

Alicia Keys: "No One" (Stripped version)

Here's an awesome, stripped version of no One as performed by Alicia Keys.


video uploaded in youtube by user gleicarol

I got a link to this video from one of the forums I visit and I thought it was awesome. I think Alicia's voice, as great as it is, sounds quite strained in the album version of "No One". Her voice in this live performance, however, is clearer and more effortless. Much better than the recording IMHO.

But what makes this number stand out for me are the amazing back-up singers. At 3:23, they do these incredible descending scales that sounds so smooth and flawless that you think it's pretty easy to do. Then I tried singing it myself and I realized it was NOT as straightforward as I initially thought! Those back up singers are truly awesome!

Speed typing

My friend M sent me a link to this website, to which she claims she is addicted now. I took a look and it's indeed a fun site. You are supposed to type the words that appear and you are then scored on how many words and characters you can type in a minute.

I'm not sure what the average typing speed is but I thought I did pretty well. Haven't scored below 60 (one word per second) in all my tries so far. Here's my current best result:

84 words

Typing Test

Not bad. I know someone whose best score is 89 and I know someone else whose best score is 75. So I guess all in all I'm not bad (I used to think I was a lot slower than I apparently am). I'm not quite addicted to it yet but I do find it quite fun to try out every now and then.

Elliott Yamin's new single: "Fight for love"

Two years after he released his self-titled debut album, Elliott Yamin releases his new single, "Fight for Love". Woo-hoo!!!

The single was released in the US around Valentine's Day (I think it premiered on AOL on Feb 13). I've heard that it wasn't supposed to be released yet but the song somehow leaked. But in the end it kinda made sense coz it's a romantic song and a coming-out party on the Valentine's day is quite appropriate. You can listen to the full song in the Croshal Entertainment Group website.

"Fight for Love" is a really catchy song and the first time I heard it, I ended up listening to it over and over again (still do, actually LOL). Not only is the song very radio-friendly but it showcases Elliott's smooth vocals and soulful vibe. He seems to have increased his range as well as he hits a couple of really high notes that he didn't hit in his first album.

His new album is supposed to be released in the US on May 5th. The single hasn't been released in the Philippines yet, and no date has been set on international album release either. But considering his past success here, I hope it won't be long. Who knows, maybe he decides to make another trip to Manila soon to promote his new album.

Hopefully, the new album does just as well as the first one, if not better. Would be great if Elliott becomes a platinum recording artist.

My last shot at a long-standing dream?

I checked out the tennis page on CNN Sports Illustrated the other day as I do often. And I was stunned by the piece of news at the top of the page:

"Agassi, Graf to rally first under Wimbledon roof"

My eyes widened and I immediately clicked on the click to read more about the article. Apparently, Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi will play an exhibition - dubbed "A Centre Court Celebration" - along with Tim Henman and Kim Clijsters in Wimbledon on May 17. Holy crap!

The event is being staged in order to test the playing conditions in Wimbledon Centre Court with the new roof and air management system. Wimbledon starts in end-June and I guess the organizers of this most celebrated of tennis tournaments want to gauge how things will be in Centre Court once the roof in place. That way, there won't be any surprises, and any problems with the playing conditions can be identified weeks before the tournament starts.

I have actually watched Steffi Graf play live once - an exhibition match against Kimiko Date in Tokyo, which was part of Graf's farewell tour in late 1999-early 2000. But I have always wanted to see her play in a Grand Slam event. Obviously, I didn't have the cash at the time Steffi was playing so I never got a chance to watch her compete. And this exhibition isn't exactly a Grand Slam event, but it will be played in the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon. Considering that Steffi is retired and no longer plays competitive tennis, this really is the next best thing.

What's more, she will be playing with her husband Andre Agassi as well as Henman and Kim Clijsters. I have actually supported and rooted for all these players at some point in my tennis fandom so it'll be great to get to see all of them share the same court (Wimbledon Centre Court!!) and play with/against each other.

Tickets will be sold at 10am UK time on March 12, and I will hope that I am lucky enough to get a ticket. If I do, I will figure out some way to fly to London. My pockets aren't exactly bursting at the seams with money and there is a global financial crisis right now so frivolous spending should be kept at a minimum, but this has been a dream of mine for such a long time now and another opportunity like this may never come again so it'll definitely be worth it.

Falling Slowly (from the movie "Once")

Here's a very beautiful song called "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.


video uploaded in youtube by user FoxSearchlight

This song never really got into the mainstream but it's claim to fame is that it won an Oscar for Best Original Song in 2007, beating out music from "Enchanted" and "August Rush". It never gained popularity here because the song is not really mainstream and the film "Once" wasn't shown here. I first learned about the film when my friend Michele suggested to me that I watch it, saying that I would most likely enjoy the music in it. My friend Chari got it for me as a birthday gift last year and I've listened to it (especially this song) a lot of times already. I also got the DVD of the film, although I have yet to watch it.

Miscellany

Liverpool just drew against Man City last night, which now means that Manchester United are seven points ahead of them and sitting pretty at the top of the league table. I don't want to throw the towel in just yet, but I don't want to be bitterly disappointed either so I'm going to hope for the best but expect the worst. Well, not really the worst. The worst would be if Liverpool to drop from 2nd place. I would be gutted if that happens.

*****

After five trips to the Oscars, Kate Winslet finally nabs the best actress trophy. I was hoping that Meryl Streep would pull an upset but I do have to say that I am still quite happy for Kate as she does deserve to have at least one Oscar - I mean, this was her sixth nomination! I especially love the bit in her acceptance speech where she says "I think we all can't believe we're in a category with Meryl Streep at all." I'm still keeping my fingers crossed that Hollywood will realize that Meryl will return to the winner's circle at least one more time.

I was really happy too that Sean Penn for the best actor trophy. I had a feeling that if there would be any upset, it would be in this category. Mickey Rourke had been winning every other award, and I felt that Sean Penn deserved some recognition for his portrayal of Harvey Milk. I do feet for Mickey Rourke though because I'm not sure how many other chances he will get to be nominated (this was Penn's fifth nomination and second Oscar).

And may I say that the opening act from Hugh Jackman was incredible! I thought for a second he wasn't going to be given a standing ovation but there was just some delay. :) That performance is worthy of some award too (maybe an Emmy or a Golden Globe? LOL)

*****

Okay this bit of news is a week old but Rafa Nadal managed to increase his lead over Roger Federer by reaching the finals of the ATP tournament in Rotterdam. It could have been an even bigger lead had he won, but he ended up succumbing to a knee injury and losing in three sets to a very in-form Andy Murray. Unfortunately he loses a bit of his lead over Federer because he had to withdraw from Dubai due to his injured knee. Roger withdrew from the same event due to a back problem, but since he lost in the first round last year, he doesn't have any points to defend.

I do hope Nadal gets enough rest and strengthens his knee soon. The clay court season is coming up and he has a whole horde of points to defend. It would be absolutely great if Rafa can win the French Open this year. If he does, it will be his fifth in a row. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that...

My third Habitat for Humanity build

I first volunteered for Habitat for Humanity almost a year ago. I joined the corporate social responsibility club we have at work a little more than a year ago, and on March 23 last year, we had our first trip to a Habitat for Humanity site, where volunteers moved hollow blocks and cement mixtures from one place to another, allowing skilled workers to focus on the actual house building rather than on the smaller stuff.

Since then, I've gotten really involved in this corporate social responsibility (CSR) club, so much so that I've been elevated to initiative head. I have three other co-heads (great people with whom I really love working) and it's amazing that our CSR initiative now has the full support of our country management. we now have projects and programs meant to contribute in the areas of environmental sustainibility, economic development and philanthropy, and educational achievement.

Last Saturday was our first company-wide activity for the year: another build for Habitat for Humanity. We had over 60 volunteers participate and it was great. There was a lot more work to be done this time around. we were broken into four groups. although two of the groups ended up merging. The first group painted the steel components of the roof. The second group poured the cement mix into the walls, and the third group, which I was in, did all the heavy lifting - hollow blocks, sand, and cement mix.

Of all my three trips to a Habitat build, this was probably the one where I had the most fun. Mainly coz we had more volunteers than in the past. But also because we were involved in the latter stages of house building so you could more easily see progress. my group moved enough cement mix to allow the builders to complete three floors in three different houses. It was amazing to see really, and I think as the day wore on we actually got faster and faster with respect to moving the cement mix. It was also great seeing how much higher the walls had gotten due to the great work of the volunteers pouring the cement mix into the hollow block walls. There were so many roof components that were fully painted by the end of the day.

This was also the first time that we all had name tags (I guess we have learned from past experience as well). And seeing the name of the person standing next to you made it so much easier to make new friends.

Of course, considering the fact that I haven't had any exercise in a long time, I feel like I've been beaten up today. My back (upper and lower), biceps, shoulders, and even legs feel extremely sore, almost like I was beaten up LOL. unfortunately, I wasn't able to hit the spa today to get a massage, so I plan to get one tomorrow instead. Nevertheless, all the pain is worth it. Not only did we get to help build houses, I also got to meet a lot of new people.

Of Movies and Music

Over the weekend I realized that I had bought several DVDs that I haven't watched yet so I figured I should start watching some of them. Didn't really have enough time to watch everything though. I did get to see "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". It was okay (good enough to watch but it wasn't 'wow'). Definitely darker than some of the previous ones. I was expecting thought that a specific lead character was going to die in it. And when this character didn't die, I thought that they maybe "sanitized" the film version so that people don't start hurling things at the wide screen. So I texted my friend who I know is a huge HP fan and she told me that this character dies in the next film.

I also got to watch "Borat" and it definitely lived up to all the expectations of hilarity. It bordered on political incorrectness (or maybe it even crossed the line) but in a way that made you feel how utterly insane it is to be bigoted i.e. you were more laughing at the stupidity of the jokes and the person making them rather than at the target of the jokes. There were definitely several very memorable moments in the film - I was driving earlier today and remembered one of the scenes and I started chuckling in the car. It really is such a crazy movie, and definitely worth seeing. Just make sure you are ready for some crudeness and lewdness and slapstick beyond compare.

I also recently got the order I placed in Amazon. I had it delivered to my friend John who lives in the US and when my other friend Me-ann went to the US for a business trip, she was able to get my amazon delivery from John and bring it to Manila. Part of the package included Damien Rice's "O", Bell X1's "Music in Mouth", The Editors "An End has a Start", Outkast's "Speakerboxxx/ The Love Below", and Sennheiser CX-300-B Earbuds. I managed to load all those CDs to my ipod before I went to Bangkok last weekend but I haven't really been able to digest the entire albums. Mostly I listened to the songs I already knew from these albums. Today however I got to listen to the Bell X1 album in its entirety and boy am I glad I picked up that album. It's amazing! Every song is at the very least good. And all the songs tie up nicely together, giving the album a very strong identity. It's not available in the Philippines, so if you are interested, you can get it from Amazon.

I've gone halfway through the album of The Editors and it's pretty solid as well. It's always great when you have friends who recommend great music to you (and it's even greater that a lot of the songs in these albums are on youtube so I can sample it before I decide to get the album). In any case, I'm really pleased with my recent CD purchases. And my noise reduction earphones are pretty cool too!

Bangkok Dangerous

No, I don't mean the movie (I was told that the film, which starred Nicolas Cage, was not very good). I mean the actuall city where I spent a long weekend last week.

I've been to Bangkok twice before, but on both occasions I never really got to go around. The first time was for work. I was there for four days but it was mostly long days that were capped off with team dinners. The only place I got to visit was MBK (the mall) to do some shopping. The second time I got to visit Bangkok was by chance. I was flying from London (was on holiday there) to Vietnam (straight to a project kick-off) on September 11 2001, the day of the terrorist attack on the US. As I landed in Bangkok to catch my connecting flight to Vietnam, I was told by the ground crew that my boss had called them to tell me that I needed to stay in Bangkok until our company travel ban was lifted. It was lifted early the next day, but that meant I spent one night in Bangkok. Again, not enough time to see anything.

That definitely was not the case last weekend. I met up with my friend Tim, who has been to Bangkok and Thailand so many times already that he was the perfect tour guide. Our time was spent going around the city with Tim showing me the many interesting sites and bringing me to some really good restaurants to have some great food. I had never been in a tuktuk before so we made sure that I get to ride in one.

We also met up with some friends of Tim and even made a few new friends. Some of these new friends we made took us to an extremely cool night spot. Apparently, it was the house of the owners of MBK - they decided to convert part of their house to a hang-out place. The weather was beautiful, which was really good because this hang out place was outdoors. We spent a few hours here just chilling, drinking wine and rum coke and having shisha (strangely enough, it was my first time to try it, despite it being available in so many places in Manila). After that, Tim and I headed to a club to have a few more drinks...

Probably the most interesting photo I took during the trip was right before we hit the club. Talk about your king of the road (and check out the tail light - literally...)

It was really more like a chill weekend than a dangerous one LOL. Bangkok is definitely a very interesting city. I wouldn't mind paying it another visit, although if I had to go to Thailand again, I'd opt for a trip to the islands like Koh Lanta or Koh Samui.

Barely scraping through

I was in a club last Saturday while Liverpool were playing Portsmouth. They very barely got through. Once again, Torres saved the day with his late goal in added time. But I have to say that Portsmouth lost that game more than Liverpool won it.

I have to say I'm glad that they got through that match. They were in danger of losing. Portsmouth were up a goal twice. And with them losing recently to Everton in the FA Cup (man, that was painful), I was really scared that Liverpool were on their way down. So this win was really good for them. Hopefully it will jump-start a revival. They are still 5 points adrift of league leaders Man Utd so they need to be in their best possible form the rest of the season.

Sesame Street Classic: Flower

If you watched Sesame Street a lot a few decades ago, then you might find this youtube video just as nostalgic as I did. It is a simple yet powerful video of a flower, with Antonio Vivaldi's Guitar Concerto in D Major, 2nd Movement playing in the background:

video uploaded in youtube by user mstatz

I found this video a couple of years ago when I was still based in Sweden. During that time, I spent a lot of time searching for interesting videos on youtube and at some point found myself searching for Sesame Street videos.

I find it very interesting what kind of emotions I feel while watching this clip. Obviously it brings back so many memories of when I was a kid. I find the simplicity of this clip to be very powerful. Showing us the different parts of a flower in great detail makes you realize how easy it is for us to overlook the many tiny fragments of beauty that can be found in things that we take for granted because they are always there. And the music! Leave it to Vivaldi to create a masterful stroke of beauty with this incredibly emotive piece.

It's unfortunate that there is no DVD currently available of all these old Sesame Street clips coz I would certainly get one. I'm pretty sure that thousands of other people also would.

A great sporting day

Not only did Rafa Nadal win the Australian Open but Liverpool also snap their 4-game winless streak by beating Chelsea 2-0 in Anfield. It was Torres' two goals both scored in the dying minutes of the match that gave Liverpool the win. They are still two behind Man Utd (who also have a game in hand so they could go 5 clear) but at least they didn't fall back even further behind.

Nadal wins Grand Slam title #6!

Rafa Nadal wins the 2009 Australian Open, beating Roger Federer in 5 sets 7-5, 3-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-2. Woo-hoo!! :)

photo courtesy of the Australian Open website.

Some interesting figures:

• Rafa now leads Roger in their head to head, 13-6
• Rafa also leads Roger in their Grand Slam final head to head, 5-2
• Rafa has won the five matches they played against each other
  
• This is the first time Nadal has reached the final of a Grand Slam event played on hard court
• Nadal's career five-set record now stands at 12-3. Clearly, he's not a guy you'd want to get into a fifth set against.

The level of play was not as high as in their Wimbledon 08 clash but it was just as tense for the most part. Federer was not at his best, which was good for Nadal because he seemed a step slower and marginally weary, most likely due to his 5 hour 14 minute semifinal match against Fernando Verdasco. A lot of people, including myself, thought that Nadal would not be in good enough physical shape after that. A colleague even commented last Friday, as the Nadal-Verdasco match got into the 5th set, that Federer would kill whichever of the two he ends up meeting. How wrong she was!

Nadal now has 6 Grand Slam titles. And he's only 22. When Federer was 22, he had 1 Grand slam title (Wimbledon 2003). And with Federer amassing a multitude of records already, it's interesting that with this win, Rafa actually achieved something Roger has not - win a Grand Slam event on three different surfaces (grass, hardcourt, and clay).

Of course, the question is how many years Rafa can play at this level. His style of play is so physically demanding that it won't be easy for him to have the longevity that other tennis legends have. But I guess it doesn't really matter. With 6 Grand Slam singles titles on three different surfaces and a #1 ranking, he is assured of a place as one of the best tennis players in history. He may not be the greatest ever. But he certainly is the best right now.

Congratulations, Rafa! :)

Keeping my fingers crossed

So I've just recently been told that my band Still Oz may start gigging again. After 8 months of not gigging, I'm hoping that this pans out.

So while I wait for news on whether we land another series of gigs, here's a video of us performing U2's "With or without you" from our gig last May:

Joaquin's first birthday party

I attended Joaquin's first birthday party earlier today. Actually, I didn't just attend it, I hosted it. I didn't have my clown costume and make-up or my magic tricks with me though. ;) Joaquin is the son of my friend Myra, whose wedding I also hosted (so I'm guessing she thinks I'm a pretty good emcee LOL).

There was a lot of good food and we had a few party games - one for the kids, one for the babies (2 and under), one for the adults, and one for the yayas. But the main event was a Gymboree program - Myra and her husband Jun got Gymboree to set up a play area and to organize a 1 hour program for the kids. It was a really good program that allowed the kids to be fully engaged and even had their dads and moms participate.

Towards the end of the party, we showed a really cool AVP of Joaquin's photos. You have to really admire Myra and Jun for documenting Joaquin's first year in photos. We closed the program with the cake/candle blowing and with everyone singing "Happy birthday".

So from wedding singer and emcee to children's party emcee. Makes me wonder what's next LOL.

Streep Snags A SAG!!!

I did not expect it to happen. And apparently, neither did Meryl Streep. But the Screen Actors Guild honored Meryl with a Screen Actors Guild award for best performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role for her brilliant performance in "Doubt".

Meryl has a history of being nominated but not winning. The only awards she has won in recent years have been Golden Globes and it hasn't been for her work in dramatic roles but for her comedic or musical performances. In fact, her last and only Oscar for best actress in a lead role was in 1982 for "Sophie's Choice". That is almost three decades ago.

Kate Winslet's double victory in the recently concluded Golden Globe's cemented her as a frontrunner for the best actress trophy at the Oscars. And with the Oscar awards nominating her for only one award instead of two as she has been in both the Golden Globes and the SAG awards, one can't help but think that the Academy is priming her for a win by preventing its voters from being distracted with two nominations. It is her role in "The Reader", for which she won as best supporting actress in both the SAG awards and Golden Globes, that nabbed her a best actress nomination in the Oscars, and not her role in "Revolutionary Road" which seems to have been snubbed.

Winslet's too good an actress to not have an Oscar so I won't feel that bad if Kate wins. After all, she has been nominated 6 times now and has never won. But I would be really happy if Streep, who has now been nominated a record 15 times, can finally break her Oscar jinx and win her second best actress Oscar (and third overall).

I did read recently that Katharine Hepburn won 3 of her 4 best actress Oscars in her 60s and Streep turns 60 in a few months' time. So if she can't win this year, maybe the Academy will reward her again real soon.

Three down, four to go

Rafa Nadal has breezed through his first three matches in the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam event of the calendar year. So far, he's been in incredible form, losing an average of only two games in each set that he plays. If he keeps playing at this level, he has a very good shot at winning the AO. Hopefully his form doesn't run out.

*****

What the hell is wrong with Roger Federer?? He's supposed to be an ambassador of tennis and yet he starts a completely unprovoked word-war with world #4 Andy Murray.

It all started when Fed was asked what he thought about British odds-makers putting Andy Murray, currently #4 in the world. as equal favorite to win the title. Fed apparently didn't take to well to that, scoffed at the idea, and said that with no Grand Slams to his belt currently, he could not be considered a favorite. (Read more here.) Funnily, it wasn't Murray who declared himself the favorite. And funnier still, British odds-makers aren't the only ones who think Murray has as good a chance as anyone else for winning. Fred Stolle, the Australian Tennis great who now does commentary work, has said that he believes Murray is a favorite. This is obviously based on his recent form. Andy has beaten Nadal the last time they played, Federer the last three times they played, and Novak Djokovic the last two times they played. That's not even counting the exhibition during which Murray beat both Roger and Rafa back to back. Clearly, Andy Murray has the best record against the Big 3 right now.

As a response to these remarks from Federer, Murray saying "Well, I mean, I don't have a problem whether I'm a favorite or not. You know, I guess Roger would prefer to be favorite himself. That's absolutely fine."

And now Roger has made more comments, saying that he would take on Andy Murray in a best-of-five match any day (Read more on Roger's challenge here).

And to make matters worse, Novak Djokovic has joined in the fray, remarking that he should be more of a favorite than Andy based on rankings (Novak's remarks here.) I guess the current #3 in the world, who choked in this two opportunities early this year to take the #2 ranking away from Fed, doesn't like being left out of the spotlight in discussions of title favorite either.

I just don't understand why Federer, who is supposed to be such an even-keel polite and upstanding ambassador of the sport, would start a word war with the new kid on the block. He doesn't have anything to prove, so he should care less as to who some people think is the favorite to win a tournament. I guess maybe he's so used to being worshiped and feared by everyone in tennis that when someone declared that they don't fear playing against him, he considers it disrespectful. Apparently, Murray is also at a loss to understand why Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic were put out by his status as Australian Open favourite (read more about this here).

Am just glad that Rafa has remained more logical than his contemporaries and defended Andy Murray and his "AO favorite" status, saying "When you win Cincinnati, when you win Madrid, when you win Doha playing against Federer, playing against Roddick, you are ready to win a grand slam". (Read Rafa's defense of Murray here.) Well said.

Losing ground

With two draws in their last two premiership matches, including one very painful one to Everton in Anfield!!! - Liverpool have now dropped to second in the premiership. Man U is now top of the league. Historically, they have always done extremely well after Christmas and Liverpool haven't so I am a bit worried but I am hoping Liverpool can regain their composure and finish do really well the rest of the season.

They have a chance to redeem themselves against Everton next week during their 4th round clash in the FA Cup this Sunday. I'm really hoping for some good news. Good luck Liverpool!

A fun-filled and meaningful holiday season

So it’s been a couple of weeks since the Christmas season concluded, and as is the case with most people, things get really hectic during this period. The same is true for me, what with all the parties and get-togethers and stuff. But the fact that the government declared a whole host of public holidays meant that I got to spend a lot of time with my family during this time. I also got to spend a very meaningful day in a home for the aged.

My friend Ginger invited me to this Christmas party she was organizing for ANAWIM, a home for the aged in Rizal. She knew I was into socio-civic activities because we talked before about Bukas Sarili and she made a donation to PGH during one of my previous marathons for a cause so she thought I might be interested to join. I had nothing planned that day so I decided I would go. Ginger hired some Dance Instructors to dance with the folks there. It was quite unfortunate that some of them had bad hips or bad knees and could no longer dance but everyone seemed to be having a lot of fun. We also had volunteers do some impromptu singing (yes, I was one of them). Food was served to everyone and once the program was over, we spent some time talking to the folks while Ginger and her relatives worked on printing the photos they took during the event (they brought a photo printer with them! I was impressed!) – that way we could leave actual (and not digital) photos with them to remind them of the wonderful day we had. It was awesome!

A couple of days later, I took my family to Tagaytay. We spent a night in Taal Vista – it was my first time to stay there and it was a really nice hotel with a great view of Taal Lake and Taal Volcano. We had lunch in Josephine’s before checking in to the hotel and immediately upon checking in, my nephews ask me to take them to the pool. I told them it was really cold but they insisted. They seemed to enjoy being in the really cold water but once they got out 20 minutes later, they were shivering like crazy. We turned in quite early that night and got up early the next day so that we could go to Taal Volcano. My grandparents just stayed at the Yacht Club to wait for us as we made our way to the volcano. We all went on horseback (and what was very interesting was that my nephew CJ had a 12 year old kid as his guide – can you imagine to pre-teen kids riding a horse all by themselves?) on our way up to the crater.

I had never seen in before and it was beautiful! Definitely worth a trip.

The boat ride back was actually a lot of fun as well because the lake was very choppy and we got splashed quite a bit LOL. We make a quick stop in Good Shepherd to buy ube and strawberry jam and stuff before making our way back to Manila.

And to wrap up the Christmas season, we celebrated CJ’s birthday with lunch in Mom and Tina’s before spending the rest of the afternoon in Ark Avilon Zoo and Fun Ranch in Tiendesitas. My brother had taken my nephews there before but I had never been. The great thing about this zoo is that it is interactive – kids can feed several of the animals there like rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, goats, and fish. They also have some animals like Orang utans, snakes, and cockatoos that you can have a photo op with.

It was late afternoon when we got to Fun Ranch so my nephews just got on a couple of rides – the boats and the bump cars before we head home. We did make one quick stop in Eastwood to get CJ the Bakugan that he dropped into the drain a week before.

I was knackered by the time the holiday season was over actually – in fact, I must have averaged less sleep during those two weeks than I do during work days LOL. But I’m not complaining. It was definitely a great Christmas season.

"Star Wars" - An A Capella Tribute to John Williams

My friend Pia sent me a link to this video and it blew me away. Check it out. I think you will be equally impressed:


video uploaded in youtube by user 9JohnJace13

The video was created and performed by Corey Vidal. Not only is the video impressive in how the harmonies were created but Corey actually sings really well (and has a very wide range!). Another interesting thing about this video is that the tribute to Star Wars here are the lyrics and storyline of the song. He doesn't sing to the tune of the Star Wars theme at any time. Instead, he sings to the tune of movie themes which John Williams also composed (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman, Indiana Jones, E.T., and Jaws).

It was nominated for a CBS people's choice award for favorite youtube video (it didn't win though) and if you watch it, I think you will agree that it deserved the nomination.

Wrapping up the wedding season

So, wedding season for 2008-2009 is almost over (okay, that comment makes me sound like Owen Wilson or Vince Vaughn from the Wedding Crashers LOL). I’ve been to three more weddings in the last month. I have one more wedding to attend (well, more like a wedding reception since Tricia and CJ have wed civilly already and they are just preparing a reception so they can celebrate as a couple with all their friends) but here's a quick recap of the ones that I attended in the last few weeks.

My friend Stelz got married to her husband Norman in San Agustin Church last December, a couple of days before Christmas. She had asked me and a couple of my ex-colleagues Mark and Rose to play some songs during the wedding ceremony (Mark played the guitar and Rose played the keyboards and did backing vocals as well). We performed “I offer my life” during the offertory, “Lead me, Lord” during communion, and four songs during the pictorial session: Kenny Lattimore’s “For you”, Martin Nievera’s “Never Say Goodbye”, Gary Valenciano’s version of “How did you know” and Edwin McCain’s “I’ll be”. I was also supposed to sing Gary V’s version of “I will be here” and Rose was supposed to sing “You” by the Carpenters but there wasn’t enough time. Here’s a video of me singing “I’ll Be”:



The reception was also held in Intramuros, just a block away from the church, and it was great because I got to see and catch up with a lot of other ex-colleagues, a lot of whom I haven’t seen in a long time.

And since good things come in threes, I headed back to San Agustin church a week and a half later to attend Maileen and Nick’s wedding. The church ceremony was at 2pm and there was a mini-reception in Barbara’s afterwards to keep people entertained before heading to the dinner reception in – get this – the Metropolitan Museum. It was the first time that I attended a wedding set in a museum and I thought it was an absolutely brilliant idea. My friends and I got there at 5pm and spent our time walking through the museum and being in awe of the amazing art there. But of course it wasn’t just the venue that made it memorable. The speeches were great, the wine was really good (and free-flowing!), and I got to catch up once again with old friends, including Maileen whom I haven’t really seen a lot of recently. It was cool that I got to dance with her as well during the reception because we used to be dancing partners in college during our Indakan days.

Finally, I attended the wedding of Kuki and MJ a couple of days ago in Fernbrook. It was my first star-studded wedding (Kuki and MJ have a lot of very good friends in showbiz). I won’t go into detail on who was there since Kuki and MJ might not appreciate the name dropping haha. But suffice it to say that my duet partner Shasha and I were not pleased by the fact that we had to sing almost immediately after a couple of very seasoned performers who both sang really well LOL. We sang “All I ask of you” from the Phantom of the Opera. In any case, we seemed to have pulled it off decently well and not embarrass ourselves in the presence of all those showbiz people haha. But at the end of the day, MJ and Kuki were happy with our song and that is really the most important thing.

This also means that I have now sung in 26 different weddings and wedding anniversaries. For a non-professional wedding singer, I’d say that’s a whole lot. I am now seriously considering talking to some wedding coordinators to see if they are in need of an extra wedding singer LOL. After all, with the current global financial crisis, I could do with the extra pocket money.

Game night

I think part of the idea for Game Night came from the fact that when Suzanne and Nenen came to Manila a month and a half ago, they distributed their Christmas gifts to us and most of us got Cranium games. When we had our Christmas party, we started talking about meeting up again in early January to have a game night, where we get to play the different games we got. That concept finally came to fruition yesterday when Pia, Che, Tim, and I paid a visit to Raffa and Joh's house.

We kicked the night off with "breakfast for dinner" - Joh and Raffa prepared a breakfast menu that consisted of pan de sal with kesong puti, bacon, daing na bangus, spam, chicken longganisa, and fried rice, and egg (I think I'm missing something). We had orange juice along with our dinner. And for dessert, we had chocolate chip pancakes and coffee. Not sure whose vision it was (Joh? Pia?) but in any case, it was an awesome dinner and we all ended up getting pretty stuffed.

Now that we had sufficient energy reserves to last us the entire night, we headed on to play the different games we had. We started off with a three-round American Idol game on Wii. Che and Tim had never played it before and Che really wanted to try it. It was a lot of fun and the judges comments provided a lot of entertainment, and in the end, Raffa took the title.

We moved on to Che's game - Whoonu. The objective of the game is to pick a card that you think describes the other players the most. I won't get into all the details of the game since I don't want to make this blog post too long LOL. Raffa won this game again, but I do have to say that my cards never seemed to be any good. (I know, excuses, excuses...)

We then moved on to Tim's game - Hoopla. I won't even attempt to explain how this game works as it is a lot more complex than Whoonu LOL but the objective here is that all players, as a team, have to make the other players guess the content of their cards using a variety of different techniques. You play against the time, and when you try to guess 32 cards in 15 minutes, it can get pretty intense. We actually lost the first time we played (we had 2 cards remaining when time ran out) but the next round we played we won.

Pia brought with her a "Princess Bride" game, which is kind of a strategic game. The goal is to get to the castle by using tactic cards to overcome your path cards. Joh, Tim, and I all ended up one move away from victory and it was essentially Pia's call on who would win - it would either be me or Joh as she had one block card which she could use on any other player. The winner of this game is, well, undefined, since Pia blocked Joh allowing me to win but Pia apparently got confused and didn't realize I was going to win as well (she thought I would just end up blocking Tim instead of stepping forward to the castle LOL). Doesn't really matter who the winner was though so I guess we can call it a Joh victory. :)

Our next game was mine - Humdinger. Probably the simplest game, you need to make your teammates guess the song written down on your card by humming it. We didn't know a lot of the songs, but it was pretty fun.

We closed out the night with Wii fit games, which ranged from skiing and snowboarding to football headers (I bust my gut laughing in this game!) to catching fish on an chunk of glacier. The most tiresome of all the games we tried though was the hula hoop game. I was actually sweating after my second attempt at it. If you play a few rounds of this game each day, I'm pretty sure you'd get a good cardio workout each time.

It was a really fun night for all of us. I'm guessing there will be a part 2 sometime soon.

Holding steady at the top

Halfway through the season and Liverpool still remain at the top of the English Premier League. This is great news! Apparently, the last time Liverpool were top of the league after Christmas (which was 1987), they went on to win the league. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the same thing happens this year. It won't be easy though. There's finally a bit of breathing room now between Liverpool and Chelsea - 3 points, if you can call that breathing room, but they used to be up by just a point. Man Utd are 7 points adrift in 3rd place, but they have two games in hand. If they win both those matches, they end up just one point. In any case, it should be a very interesting season.

And while we're on the subject of sports, Rafa Nadal just bludgeoned his way past Fabrice Santoro 6-0, 6-1 to get to the Round of 16 in the Exxonmobil Open in Doha, his first tournament of the year. This is an excellent start to the year for Nadal, and hopefully he can keep this kind of form the rest of the tournament and open 2009 with a title.

I also recently caught the 2008 New York marathon on cable and I was very pleased to see that Paula Radcliffe won her 3rd New York Marathon. I find it quite unfortunate that she is the world record holder in the women's marathon with a time of 2:15:25 (that is less than half the amount of time it took me to run my fastest marathon ever LOL) and yet hasn't won an Olympic gold. It would be great though if she finally breaks through and wins top honors in London 2012.

'Himala': Best Asia Pacific Film of All Time

Congratulations to Filipino film "Himala" for winning the CNN APSA Viewers Choice Award for Best Asia Pacific Film of all time!


video uploaded in youtube by user dlanor2k5

I didn't get to see this movie when it first came out in 1982 but as I learned more about the Golden Age of Philippine Cinema - which was pretty much the 70s and early 80s - I started to become more interested in this film. I tried searching for it on video - and during this search I managed to watch a lot of other great Pinoy films like 'Itim', 'Bulaklak sa City Jail', and 'Manila By Night / City After Dark' - but I couldn't really find a video of 'Himala'.

Then I lucked out when I was in college. The SM cinemas had some kind of film festival going on where they were showcasing some of the best Pinoy movies. Himala was to be played on the final Sunday of this film fest in SM Centerpoint so I journeyed to Sta. Mesa to catch the film.

Needless to say I was not disappointed. No, sorry, that is an understatement. To date, 'Himala' remains one of the best movies I have ever seen, and that includes all local and International films I've watched. 'Himala' covers a range of issues - from blind faith to the commercialism of religion to rape to prostitution. But it does so in a very matter-of-fact, this-is-how-it-is way. It doesn't really preach or force you to believe in a certain way of thinking, which I appreciate because then you are left to ponder and make up your own mind about these issues.

Technically, it can't really compare to a lot of the other high budget films that it beat out for the top prize like Akira Kurosawa's 'Shichinin no samurai' (Seven Samurai) and Ang Lee's 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. Case in point, the final stampede scene was filmed in only one take because they didn't have the budget to shoot it more than once (which is actually amazing because that final stampede scene is so powerful and gripping, it is one of the best final sequences in any movie). But the great thing about 'Himala' is that it presented several issues that relate directly to the human condition in the Philippines, and it presented it in an incredibly powerful and though-provoking way.

You can read more eloquent and well-worded descriptions of 'Himala' in the following links:

Filipino film 'Himala' wins CNN APSA Viewers Choice Award
Himala IMDB entry
Himala Wikipedia entry

And here's a video of the amazing final stampede scene:


(video uploaded in youtube by user dlanor2k5)

I remember having goosebumps stepping out of the cinema when I watched it and I still get chills now thinking about it. I am hoping that with the recent international success of this movie, it will be made available on DVD or even VCD.

Congratulations, 'Himala'!

Happy 2009!

Happy New Year!!

I haven't really been online a lot during the holiday season, what with the family reunions, parties, and last-minute shopping. Hopefully, once the dust from the hectic holiday season settles, I get to write about a lot of the great stuff that has happened recently.

More weddings

As it always is, Christmas season also doubles as wedding season, with most people deciding to get married anywhere from November to January. It's kinda crazy when you think about it - traffic is at its worst during this time of the year. But a lot of people decide to get married around Christmas because most of their relatives and friends who live outside the country travel back to Manila for the holidays.

I attended the wedding of Eloi and Edward a couple of weeks ago. They got married in Paco Park and since I'm not very familiar with that area, I ended up in Paco Church which apparently is a completely different place. The traffic in Manila that day was intense, which really sucked because I was supposed to sing "Ikaw" as Eloi walked down the aisle. So someone from the choir was supposed to back me up in case I didn't make it in time. I stepped into Paco Park 20 minutes late and completely deflated, but as I entered, I saw Eloi getting ready for the bridal march. So I ran around the side of the park and into the chapel. A minute or so later, and still slightly out of breath, Eloi entered the chapel and I started singing. Talk about your photo finishes!

I was definitely calmer the day after during Jayson and Lorraine's wedding. I had to pick Joyce up coz she had no ride, and since she was part of the entourage, we got there at 2:15pm, 45 minutes before the wedding was supposed to start (well, 15 minutes before it was supposed to start *according* to the invitation but apparently they put in a half hour buffer because they figured people would be late). The reception, at the Sofitel, wouldn't start until a couple of hours later so Joyce and I took some photos and had coffee and dessert at the lobby (the coffee was so frickin' expensive, more than P200 a cup!). It was great though because we were assigned in table 1 and as such were the first table to hit the buffet. And the food was incredible!! Made me wish I had a bigger stomach so I could eat more. Joyce and I stayed and danced like crazy until the band finished their set.


There are a few more weddings coming up - Stelz and Norman, Mai and Nick, and Kuki and MJ. Tricia and CJ got married recently but their wedding reception won't be until January. Which reminds me, I need a new barong.

A signed Liverpool shirt and a strong season so far

After Liverpool beat PSV Eindhoven 3-1 in last week's champions league, I visited the Liverpool website and saw that a Limited edition Liverpool shirt signed by the team was available for purchase. Wow! A signed Liverpool shirt!! I decided to check it out immediately, find out how much it cost, and get it for myself. Unfortunately, when I checked it out, it said that the product was not available.

How quickly excitement can turn into disappointment LOL. I should've known that a limited edition Liverpool signed by the players would sell like hotcakes. Makes me wish I checked the website sooner. Then again, considering that I'm strapped for cash right now, it's probably better that stocks ran out. Otherwise, I'd get in even deeper debt than I already am right now.

It's great though that Liverpool are doing incredibly well this season. They've beaten both Chelsea and Man United - away, at that! - and are currently top of the league. They have a game in hand though and are just one point clear of Chelsea so chelsea can go top of the league again. Kinda sucks that Liverpool just drew last night against Hull City, but I'll take it considering that Pool were done 0-2. If it weren't for Steven Gerrard and his two goals, we could have been in slightly worse shape.

Makes me think, I actually prefer to get the current Liverpool kit with Gerrard's name and number (8) at the back. Costs quite a few quid though, so I'll have to save up for it first.

"Oh, had I a golden thread" by Eva Cassidy

This is Eva Cassidy singing "Oh, had I a golden thread." Hearing her version made me an instant fan. Her vocal ability is brilliantly showcased in this song and everyone who has listened to it has more or less agreed that it is traffic-stopping in its brilliance.


video uploaded in youtube by user superstarsingerfreak

I first learned about Eva Cassidy when Michelle Kwan skated to her version of Sting's "Fields of Gold." My friend Diane let me listen to a couple of her cover of "Autumn Leaves". From her renditions of these two songs, I felt that she had an incredibly soulful voice and an amazing ability to cover other people's music.

Then I was on a plane once, several years ago, where one of the music channels featured her music. The description in the in-flight magazine of her voice was that she had the amazing ability of going from soft to loud very effortlessly. Since I knew her as someone with a soulful and soothing voice, that comment made me wonder. So I decided to listen.

And for the first half of this song, I was still thinking, okay, great soft voice. Then mid-way she goes all gospel-y and unleashes one of the best high notes I have ever heard. Ever. (It comes at around 2:52 in the song.) I was lucky enough to find her "Live at Blues Alley CD" in the hard-to-find section in a music store in Podium a few years ago. I've scratched that CD listening to it over and over again. Definitely worth a buy if you can find it. Even for just this song. :)

My new phone

I just got myself a new mobile handset.

Since the Rihanna concert, I have been having problems with the LCD of my old phone, which was a Sony Ericsson K750i. About 70% of the time, the screen would be washed out and I'd have to turn it off then on again, or I'd open the camera lens and shut it, for the screen to reappear. So for a couple of weeks I have been thinking of getting a new phone. But since I could still get by with my old phone, which was a phone that I actually really liked it, I kept putting off my new phone purchase.

That is, until Friday, when I accidentally dropped my phone into a urinal. I know, disgusting (and probably too much information). So it was definitely time for me to get a new phone.

I had been thinking of getting the Sony Ericsson K770i. Mainly coz I was happy with my previous Sony Ericsson phone. And also because the K770i had a torchlight or flashlight, similar to the K750i. Weird really that the presence of a powerful light would be a deciding factor in which phone I'd get. But I did use the light of my K750i a lot - it was probably one of the most used features of that phone - so as silly as it sounds, it kinda made sense for me LOL. I was looking for a slightly cheaper phone (which was in the P10,000 price range and not one of those fancy phones that cost P20,000 and up).


So I ended up getting the Sony Ericsson K770i. The extra bonus I get with this phone is that since I didn't get it from my mobile provider, it isn't network-locked. Which means I can use it with any SIM card, making it so much better for me when I travel to another country - say Singapore - where I can just get a pre-paid SIM and save a lot of money on texts and calls.

And in the two days I've been using it, I am quite happy with my choice. The only thing is that it is quite a thin and sleek phone, and it doesn't look as sturdy as the K750. I'm worried that one day, my phone will slip from my hands and break when it hits the floor. I guess I wouldn't mind if that happens, as long as I get a couple of years worth of mileage from it first.

Go Manny!

Manny Pacquiao wins his historic boxing match against Golden Boy Oscar Dela Hoya! Woo-hoo!!

photo courtesy of sportsillustrated.cnn.com

I had my doubts leading to that match. Dela Hoya towered four inches over Pacquiao and his reach exceeded Manny's by about 6 inches. Odds-makers were putting Pacquiao as the underdog so he had a lot of work to do if he wanted to win.

I would've watched the match had I gotten up early enough to catch it but I didn't. I had an incredibly long week leading up to an exhausting day yesterday (one that ended at 4am after a massive amount of drinks) so I woke up mid-afternoon. I only remembered the match coz I was in an elevator with some people who were talking about how Manny beat Oscar into submission. I did get to see a bit of the fight again at night and it was great to see just how well Pacquiao fought. It was also great to hear the crowd chanting "Manny! Manny!"

So Pacquiao solidifies his unofficial title as the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world. It was a great win for Manny and a great win for the Philippines! :)

Meeting up with Suzanne and Nenen

My friends Suzanne and Nenen recently flew back to the Philippines for a couple of weeks so naturally we met up with them while they were here.

We decided to have dinner in Je Suis Gourmand in Fort Bonifacio with the gang, or at least those of us still in town - Nenen, Suzanne, Joh, Raffa, Pia, Peegee, Randee, Me-ann and myself. It was also Me-ann's birthday so it was a double celebration. Obviously there was a lot of catching up, with Nenen and Suzanne talking about their new house and the trips they've taken. I got French Apple Pie from Sugarhouse for Me-ann's birthday so we decided to have dessert in Peegee and Randee's place. For most of us, it was our first time there and they had a really cool place. After dessert, Suzanne and Nenen handed us all our Christmas presents which was really cool. Since I have low EQ, I took a look at my present. They got me a Humdinger. I seriously can't wait to play it. I'll certainly be bringing it during our Christmas party and I trust we will be having loads of fun playing it. :)

Nenen then headed to Bacolod to spend time with her family. Since Suzanne was staying in Manila, we decided to meet up with her again. Last Thursday, we - Suzanne, Me-ann, Joh, Pia, and I - had dinner in Red Crab in Greenbelt 3. We decided to have dessert some place else afterwards. Suzanne was looking for a new place and since she had never been to Greenbelt 5, we head over there. Most places were closed by that time but Chateau 1771 was still open so we had coffee and dessert there. Can't remember what I had but it was this dark chocolate tart that was awesome! Actually, all the desserts were pretty good.

Then on Tuesday, we met up with Suzanne once again, this time in Edsa Shang Mall. Me-ann had gone to the US on a business trip so it was just me, Suzanne, Pia, Joh, and Raffa. Apparently, Suzanne had never been to that mall ever so it was apparently the right move for us to have dinner there. As always, the food in Cyma was great. I tried the Wagyu beef burger for the first time (really good!). We capped off the night with coffee in Starbucks.

It was great hanging out with the gang (or a subset of it LOL) again. Our Christmas get-together will be in a couple of weeks, when a lot of other folks who are out of town head back home. Nenen and Suzanne won't be here by then but it was great that we got to hang out with them while they were here.

Bali!

Bali is one of the most popular island destinations in South East Asia. It attracts millions of tourists each year and has gained so much fame that a song was written about it for the musical South Pacific. I had never been there before so when me and my buddy Tim were thinking of a good place to take a trip to, we picked Bali.

So last October 18, I flew to Bali and spent ten (yes, ten) days there! And what an amazing ten days it was! The one downside to this holiday was the fact that I left my camera charger at home and my battery died almost as soon I got there, so I had to rely on Tim for all the photos. But my sheer stupidity aside, there were definitely many factors that made this a great vacation:

THE BEACH

There are lots of beaches in Bali. We spent most of our time in the Kuta-Legian-Seminyak beach which had decent sized waves that made it ideal for boogie boarding and even beginner surfing. I tried to boogie board a few times but I apparently lack the required amount of coordination in the water to pull it off. It was still fun though. We also spent one afternoon in Dreamland to check out the waves there. Important to note: Dreamland is definitely NOT for beginners LOL.

THE PLACES OF INTEREST
We hired a driver for a day who took us to Ubud and a few other places in the island. Our first stop was the Monkey Forest, where we spent a lot of time walking through the and taking photos of monkeys that were so used to being amidst people.

We then headed further north to get a glimpse of Gunung Batur.

We then passed by Gunung Kawi on our way back:


THE FOOD AND THE RESTAURANTS
Ten days in Bali meant a whole lot of meals, and I got to enjoy a whole variety of cuisines - from incredible flavorful local meals to exquisite Western fare. Three restaurants that stood out for me: Gado Gado (I still remember the prawn and octopus appetizer and the snapper main course I had here!), Rosso Vivo (great food, great location), and of course Ku De Ta. Ku De Ta is THE ultimate chill-out spot in Bali and it's laid out in such a way that you could actually hang out there for hours on end (and then spend a fortune on the drinks they serve there LOL).


THE RESORTS
I spent my first seven nights in Putu Bali Villa. The cool thing about this resort is the pool. It's 6-feet deep all throughout but it was a small pool so I had no problem moving about in it. But what made this pool really cool was the pool bar next to it. You could sit in the water while having food or drinks. I always had lunch (or, well breakfast coz I always woke up quite late LOL) here. And it was a cool place to have a couple of beers in the early evening before we head out to party at night.

My last three nights were spent at The Conrad Bali. A 5-star Hilton hotel, this resort was absolute quality like you wouldn't believe. Tim was a Hilton rewards member which meant we actually had a few perks during our stay. We had full access to the spa facilities - sauna, steam room, hot and cold plunge pools, and the private pool. It also meant free breakfast and free cocktails at 230pm. And with a swimming pool that covered practically the entire grounds, my last 3 days were spent in total relaxation and luxury!


THE PARTYING
Of course, it isn't a holiday if there isn't any partying involved. I definitely had more than my fair share of booze and bar-hopping LOL, visiting places like Ocean Beach Bar, Sky Garden, M Bar Go, and Bounty. We did visit Double Six as well but we went there mid-week and there were like five people in the bar so we stayed for just one drink before heading out.

With a great mix of culture, nature trips, food, water sports, and nightlife, Bali is definitely a destination you should visit at least once in your life. Just make sure that if you decide to spend ten days in cool resorts, you save up for it. It’ll take some time before I clear out my credit card debt from this trip LOL. But hey, it was definitely worth it!

Tennis in 2008

Rafael Nadal finishes the year #1. Yahoo!

He actually clinched the year-end #1 ranking a couple of months back but I wasn't able to blog about it at the time. He didn't do as well towards the end of the year as he did in the middle months of 2008, but he definitely finishes more strongly this year than he has in previous years. getting pretty deep (quarterfinals or beyond) in all tournaments he played after the Olympics. He's never really had those kinds of results in the past, and that assured him of finally finishing the year ahead of everyone else, including Roger Federer.

*****

On the women's side, one of my two current favorite player, Jelena Jankovic, finished the year strongly to end 2008 as the top female tennis player. There are some question marks that come with her top ranking, the main one being that she still hasn't won any Grand Slam title yet, so a lot people thinking she isn't deserving of the top spot.

The thing though is that this year, with the sudden retirement of Justine Henin, the doors were wide open for any of the top players to make a stand and take the top ranking. And when that happened, none of the top women seemed all that interested, all of them succumbing to the pressure and losing to players they should've beaten. Somehow, towards the end of the year, Jelena decided she wanted the top spot more than anyone else and fought hard for it. And prior to the season-ending championships, she clinched the year-end top ranking as well.

Here's hoping Jelena can nab a Grand Slam title next year.

*****

My other favorite female player, Venus Williams, had a pretty damn good year too. Not only did she win her fifth Wimbledon title, she also won the year-end championships without dropping a match (and earning a pretty hefty bonus for doing so). It's the first time Venus won the season-ending championships, which is quite surprising because she did dominate women's tennis for a couple of years early this millennium. So now she has it. Would be great too if she can win another Slam next year, one that isn't Wimbledon or the US Open.

300

So, apparently this is my 300th blog post. Wow.

Definitely not the most prolific blogger by any stretch of the imagination but I am pleased that my blog is still alive and fairly up-to-date. I know a lot of my other friends who have created blogs but haven't really kept them going. I did some math (I'm such a nerd...) and apparently, I've written on blog post every four and a half days on average. That's actually not bad.

So here's hoping I can keep this blog going for another 300 posts...

Getting back on the exercise trail

So, I finally hit the gym again. Didn't lift weights as I initially planned. Didn't run on the treadmill either. Just spent 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer.

I could've stayed on it for more than 30 minutes but I haven't been exercising regularly in a while so by keeping my gym stints fairly short, I reckon it should help me get back in the exercising groove again.

Hopefully I can bring up my endurance to a pretty good level soon. I really want to be in better shape for my marathon next year and I'm dead-set on doing better than 5 hours and 36 minutes. I've also been meaning to resume my tennis lessons again and I probably would have already if it wasn't raining every so often so I'm targeting to start playing tennis again in January. I wanna take boxing classes as well, and the spotty weather isn't an excuse for not doing it, but my current cash flow is LOL.

So let's see how things go. I really wish I could be as close to my fitness 3-4 years ago, and I'm sure if I stay disciplined, I can. Would be great to lose some weight as well. :)

A Capella version of "Fix you" by Exit 245

I heard this version of Coldplay's "Fix you" while listening to the 88.3 radio show "The Blend" about two years ago. Most of the a capella performances that are played during the show are great, but this one stood out for me so I noted down the name of the group - which was Exit 245, an all male a capella group from James Madison University - and tucked it away for future reference.

I remembering searching for this song on youtube before but couldn't find it. For some reason, I decided to search for it again recently and luckily enough, it was already on youtube. So check out this amazing, amazing version of "Fix you" by Exit 245:


video uploaded in youtube by user SnafuOverYou

I'm seriously considering getting the online CD "Limelight" so I can get a copy of this song. I also just noticed that one of the songs on this CD is Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter" - one of my favorite songs of all time - so it should definitely be worth it. 'Cept that I also realized that this song is also in the album "Best of College A Capella '07". So I have to think which album I wanna get. Or, of course, I could just get both...

Rihanna and Chris Brown Live in Manila!

What a great concert!

And to think I almost missed it. I knew some time ago that Chris Brown was coming to Manila, but I didn't really know a lot of his songs and so if it was just him, I would've skipped it. But then I saw the posters that indicated that he was having a concert with Rihanna. Rihann! So naturally I had to see it. :)

I've been to a couple of concerts in the past but nothing as major as this one. And this lack of inexperience on my part led me to believe that arriving at the Fort at 6pm (concert starts at 8pm) was a good idea. As I later learned, this idea wasn't the smartest. The traffic heading into the Fort was horrible! It was like rush hour on a Monday morning. Vehicles were moving quite slowly and all the roads were full. I ended up parking quite far away from the concert venue because with the traffic, I figured all the good parking spots were taken.

I lost about 30 minutes going through traffic and looking for parking and by that time my friends were about to head into the concert venue. So I decided I would go meet up with them. This meant I wasn't able to have any dinner or even drinks. So at 7pm we were standing at the spot where we would be for the rest of the concert.

The show started promptly at 8pm (thank God!) and Chris Brown was the first to perform. He did a lot of dancing, even doing a Michael Jackson medley where he danced to Jacko hits like "Rock with you", "Billie Jean" and "Thriller". Of course, he performed several of his own major hits like "Kiss Kiss" and "With you", and also sang "No air", asking the audience to sing along with him since Jordin Sparks wasn't there. He closed his part of the concert, appropriately, with his most recent hit "Forever".

The next 45 minutes were probably the most tiring because the stage hands and production management worked on rearranging the stage to get ready for Rihanna's performance. At that point, we had been standing for 2 hours already, and with no fluid or food intake, I had been running on adrenaline. With no music to dance to for 45 minutes, I started running out of battery.

Of course, the moment Rihanna came out, I had another surge of adrenaline that kept me dancing for the next hour. She opened her set with "Disturbia" that got everyone singing "Bum bum be-dum bum bum be-dum bum" along with her. The fact that she was wearing a very, er, interesting outfit made her even more engaging to watch on stage. ;)

She went through a slew of her hits such as "Please don't stop the music" and "Shut up and drive". When she sang "Unfaithful", practically the entire audience was singing every word along with her, which must've been great for Rihanna but kinda sucked for me coz I really wanted to hear her voice - which I think is great - and not the voices of the dozens of people around me whose concert I did not pay to watch LOL. It worked for "Hate that I love you" though, because Ne-yo wasn't there so the audience sang his part.

She left the stage and the crowd started shouting "More" and "We want more". Not with a lot of energy though and who can blame them - it was hot and everyone was hungry and thirsty. But Rihanna came out again and sang "Take a Bow" before closing the show with her biggest hit to date, "Umbrella". And midway through the song she calls Chris Brown to join her and they do the "Cinderella" version of that song. It was great! The crowd definitely went wild.

I won't go into the horrid details of leaving the concert venue anymore, but in a nutshell, I ended up walking for about 45 minutes trying to find a place to eat, which ended up being mini-stop because every restaurant was so full! I manage to leave the Fort at 1am and even at this time, 2 hours after the concert ended, the traffic was still bad.

But at the end of the day, to me, it was still all worth it. A great show with two very popular and current artists sharing the stage. Awesome!

A couple of new CDs

I'm probably the only person left on the face of the planet who actually still buys CDs LOL. Actually, no, my friends buy CDs as well. But mainly to be given as gifts to me during my birthday or Christmas since I normally send them a wishlist that contains CDs and DVDs hehe.

But I digress. Just yesterday, I bought a couple of CDs that have been on my wishlist for such a long time. I could have chosen to wait a month and a half and asked my friends to get me these two CDs for Christmas. But these are so hard to find in this country. I was actually planning to order them in Amazon - they've been sitting in my cart for a few months now - so when I saw them available here, I decided to get them.

The first one is "9" by Damien Rice. I discovered Damien Rice a while back (check out this blog post on how I learned about him) and I've been addicted to his music ever since. I also want to get his other album, "O", but unfortunately it wasn't available.

The second CD I got is "So Real: Songs from Jeff Buckley", a compilation of Jeff Buckley's music. Of all his songs, I only knew about "Last Goodbye" prior to this year. Then I heard Jason Castro sing "Hallelujah" on American Idol and dug up Buckley's version of it. Needless to say, I was completely blown away by Jeff's incredibly intensity and vocal control. My friend Marco told me to search his other song "I know it's over". At this point, I decided I needed to have a Jeff Buckley album in my collection. So after looking through his albums on amazon, I decided to get this one. Now when I saw this CD in the store, it was the only one left. So I made sure to get it.

So now I have a lot more great music to listen to. And it's even better that I didn't have to order the CDs from Amazon anymore. :)

"Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez

I first heard this song in Season 5 of "One Tree Hill" during the Lucas-Peyton scene right after the Ravens win the State Championship. I recall instantly loving the song being played during this scene and thinking that I should find out what it was but apparently I never got around to it.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I heard the song again, this time being played in "Scrubs". I was online at the time so I decided to find out what this song was. It's called "Heartbeats" by Jose Gonzalez and here's the video:


video uploaded in youtube by user erg0n

This is actually a cover. the song is originally by "The Knife". You can check out the original version of "Heartbeats" here.

Halloween weekend party

My friend Ben spent last weekend in Manila. He arrived on Friday and we decided to go to Embassy. Elaine had sent me an event invitation for the Embassy party on Halloween night, "Into the twilight" and I knew that costumes were required. I didn't really get to prepare anything but then I remembered that I decided to dress up as Justin Timberlake in a Christmas party we had the year before and I still had all the stuff - fedora hat, waistcoat, tie. I figured that would be good enough. Ben had this funny pink hat and bought pink sunglasses to go along with it. So costumes with our costumes sorted, we headed to Embassy.

And man, it was packed! The queue outside was longer than I had ever seen it (although it did move quite quickly, we probably just stood outside for 10 minutes). And once inside, you could barely move. Despite the crowd, the party and music was great. Would've been a lot greater though if Embassy didn't have to close at 230am. Damn the curfew!

We still had some energy to burn so moved to Fiama afterwards. It seemed however that half the Embassy crowd moved there as well. It was just as crowded as Embassy, but the significant difference was that Fiama didn't have the powerful airconditioning that Embassy did so I was sweating like a pig in there! I was struggling quite a bit due to the heat and couldn't really enjoy myself for the several minutes of being there. We looked for a better spot and we luckily found an area right next to an aircon (i.e. it was a whole lot cooler there!) and that didn't have as many people. We found a second wind and partied for about an hour more before deciding we were too tired.

The next day, November 1, we met up with Ben's friend Hanna and her cousin Trish. What I didn't realize until now was that a lot of places are closed on November 1. And apparently it's because most people are either at the cemetery or in the province on this day. We went to Ascend first and the place was almost empty. They were still charging P500 entrance for only one drink so we decided not to go in. Instead we went to Piedra. Trish said that Piedra normally has a cover charge as well but once again, it was practically empty so we ended up getting in for free. We stayed til closing and were hoping we could get to some other club that was open but it seems every other place was closed so we ended up just having some food in Jay-J's in Ortigas.