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.

Sports, sports, and more sports

Our inter-department volleyball tournament just concluded last weekend. Our team did make it all the way to the finals but we lost an incredibly tight match 13-15 in the fifth and final set. You'd think we would have been heartbroken to lose a match like that, but strangely enough we weren't. I guess part of it was that our opponents were really good - they played extremely well on that day, and on paper they were the favorites, especially since they didn't lose any of their matches leading up to the finals. Part of it must also have been the fact that we were mentally ready. We were psychologically ready for any result, whether it be a victory or a defeat.

But most of all, we fought really hard and laid everything on the table. We kept errors to a minimum and really dug dip on every single point. We were missing one of our key players on that day due to very unfortunate circumstances but the team really did step up and make it difficult for our opponents. In the end, it wasn't quite enough, but we all really felt very proud of the effort we put in. There was no shame and no regret in the loss. And when we all had lunch together, everyone was recounting all the memorable spikes, digs, blocks, and serves that we played during the game, as well as the great plays of our opponents. This really was one of those moments were the loss actually felt like a win.

*****

I ran for charity again last Sunday. Some folks at work organized a fun run for the benefit of the Road to 2020 program of Haribon. There were about 15 volunteers, and the plan was that we would run around the UP academic oval and get people to pledge either a fixed amount or a variable amount that depended on the number of laps we covered. I committed to run 5 laps (11 kilometers). I hadn't run since my marathon last August, so I decided to do one training run on Wednesday. I guess maybe all the volleyball games and practices in August and September kept me fairly fit since I manage to run 5k in 30 minutes during my training run. The fun run was supposed to start at 6am and since I had a vicious bite of insomnia the night before, I managed only 30 minutes of sleep. Despite that, I managed to run my goal of 11k in just under 70 minutes, which means I met my target.

Now that volleyball and running season is over, I plan to hit the gym and do weights. Gotta let my knees rest for a bit since I'm afraid I've put them through so much abuse over the last few months.

*****

It's been a month since the conclusion of the US Open but I haven't really been able to blog about it yet. Unfortunately Nadal wasn't able to win his first US Open, losing to Andy Murray in the semifinals. But it did mean that he got two rounds further this year than he did last year. And since Federer had the same result this year as last year, it meant Nadal managed to increase his lead over Federer as the #1 player in the world.

Hopefully it will be enough for Rafa to keep the #1 ranking until the end of the year. It was quite unusual though to see Federer as the #2 seed and #2 player in the world. He did win his 13th Grand Slam title, and is now just one short of tying Pete Sampras' record. Although in my opinion, he doesn't really need to tie or break Sampras' record of Slam wins. He's done enough in his career to give him legend status. Definitely one of the greatest, if not the greatest, of all time.

*****

The 2008-2009 football season started a couple of months ago, and so far it's been a really good couple of months for Liverpool. They haven't lost this season yet, whether in England or in Europe. And while they only drew against Stoke City and Aston Villa, they did beat Manchester United. They also up-ended Everton in the Merseyside derby last Saturday. Here's hoping Liverpool continue to win. I have seen them win practically everything except for the English Premier League, so hopefully they can do it this year.