Life in song and dance

Across the Universe is a musical set in the 60's using Beatles songs for every single thing sung in the movie. Since i am a Beatles fan i definitely had to watch this film, though it took quite a while for me to be able to watch it.

Needless to say I loved it. The visuals were definitely a treat, with pop out colors utilizing every single shade in the rainbow and then some. And even if the movie took on a surreal quality every time they burst into song, I wanted to exist in that reality. It was a world where it took only the duration of a song to fall in love. Where reporting in the military involved song and dance.

Ladies prepare to fall in love with the unassuming demeanor of Jim Sturgess. From the first scene where he's alone at the beach singing to the audience, if you like the quiet artist type, then you will definitely be enthralled with Jude (Jim's character in the movie). And he can sing too.

And who knew Evan Rachel Wood could sing? I didn't. The bubbly cheerleader turned activist definitely showed off her pipes and a little something else in the film.

If you like the Beatles definitely watch this movie, but if you're a purist don't. The songs in this movie are definitely what you won't remember from the 60s and 70s. Since I am a fan of rerenderings and the versions of this movie included tunes I could actually sing along to (Thank goodness for female versions), it's been three months and the songs are still in constant play in my ipod playlist.

Saying goodbye to summer

So I'm saying goodbye to summer. The afternoons are rainy and i now have to bring an umbrella to work. Not that i mind falling asleep when it's raining, coz I love that.

This is actually an old picture. Socio peeps in Zambales. I remember how it was taking this picture. I'm not gonna point out which of those people I am, suffice to say I'm in the picture. Joannaman's there too.

Sunsets at the beach. Killer. I miss them.

Jatujak (Also known as my first foray into Thai food)

For lack of any strong cravings of a particular food or place to eat, and just basically wanting to try something new, went to try Jatujak at The Block last Sunday for lunch. I figured, Maiq recommended the place a long time ago and i've yet to try it, why not?

I just have to share this:

Mom: Beef di ba ung inorder ni Jason?

Us: Pork. Why?

Mom: Moo grob di ba?

And she was serious. Ahahaha. Anyway, the moo grob that Esther tried was literally, chicharon and deep fried pork on a salad of cucumbers. We loved it.

We ordered spring rolls of course. This time the fresh kind, which was oh-so-good.

Normally I drink coke at every meal, but this meal felt like an iced tea kind of lunch so i ordered their Thai iced tea (pictured above) which turned out tasting like naicha (which i was craving for at the time yay me). Mom got the mint and lemongrass tea, which tasted like liquefied Halls (yes, the candy). I like mint tea. I like lemongrass tea. But to combine them, not so much.

I am a creature of habit and to that effect I ordered the beef noodles. The soup was so delish. Even Joannaman who is not a fan of meat said so. And the beef chunks were enough to fill you up after a few spoonfulls. Mom ordered the mixed seafood, which was good but way spicy. It was the only thing we couldn't finish. We're all lightweights in that department.

So full to bursting, it was an hour before we felt that we had enough space to eat dessert. Which we had to had to do. Sebastian's you see. Tried two new flavors this time and the ubiquitous chocolate chip cookie dough. Loved the banana cream pie, which complemented the macademia white perfectly. next on the list to try. The honey choco bunny.

3 more rafle entries. I really wanna win the free ice cream for a year. ahahaha.

Going greek.

I have had an obssession about Greek food since two years ago I watched this thing about the Greek taverna in Tagaytay. Since then I've been trying to get my friends to go to Tagaytay for this purpose alone. But I haven't been able to convince them yet. Cyma was under my nose all the time. If K hadn't told me that it was greek I wouldn't have known. So at the first opportunity i dragged Joannaman to try the place with me. It was a brightly lit, and that scared the crap out of us. Wahaha. Since the place was almost fully booked with reservations, we were seated in a very visible place. Though uncomfortable, we perused the menu with glee. Ordered three dishes which up to now i cannot pronounce, let alone spell. Suffice to say it was good. And it felt healthy, with the salad greens, tuna, and olive oil on everything.

Be prepared to hear all the servers shout "Opa!" everytime they bring out a flaming dish though. We weren't. wahahaha.

I still want to try the Greek place in Tagaytay though.

Happy birthday Yancy!

For the voice in my head (and sometimes louder so everyone can hear) pulling me back to earth whenever I feel my ego expanding.

Happy Birthday you loon.

The night of two dinners and once again, utter denial

So we headed to Trinoma in the hopes of catching the Vanessa Carlton supposed free concert at the fourth floor open space. Got there to find out that it was moved to Cinema 7. So we figured, what's the catch? And then we found out. A single receipt 1500 purchase at Landmark or the supermarket, or at the 3rd floor fancy stores.

So what did we do instead? We ate dinner. RC was feeling steak-y at the moment so we went cruising for a cool steak place. Suffice to say I am not an expert on steak. I don't really eat it unless it's in front of me, and I definitely don't look for it. Browsing through a few menus, we decided on Holy Cow on the top floor of Trinoma. It was good. Had the minute steak, split it with Joannaman since I wasn't really hungry. Have to say, the red wine reduction sauce that the waiter recommended was good. The meat, just ok. (I eat mine medium well, joannaman medium rare, thank goodness it was 2 pieces and they let us do different things) A little fun fact, they let you draw on the table, which had paper tablecloths and give you color pencils to do the job.

Never leave RC and Kiko with 2 tables of blank paper and a box of color pencils. We did. We came back to a table full of drawings of male appendages, too dirty to post pics of here, let's just say i was happy when the plates were there to cover the things in front of my place at the table. We actually helped label the things after the meal. Put hearts and numbers around them. Actual numbers of the people involved haha. We were so juvenile about that. It was a fun incongruent situation, well for me. We were having dinner, steak even, at this nice place, but we were giggling like schoolgirls over the drawings we just created, and the sketches themselves were like the makings of 8 year olds, with corrupted minds.

One track minds, me and joannaman, for we headed to SM North after dinner to get ice cream at sebastian's. After which I raced back to Trinoma to meet Pao and Fae and Martin to celebrate Pao's 22nd, while joannaman went home. Tempura for my second dinner, and for their first. Since I was still burping up the steak, I just had sashimi. And my requisite glass of coke. Ka finally arrived at about almost midnight to just barely greet Pao a happy birthday on his actual day, since she had an emergency.

We were lazy and just went to Martin's after dinner. Picked up a bottle of mint chocolate Bailey's. Finished that in about an hour, whilst talking of crazy crazy things that will never leave that table (I hope).

Loved hanging with my Tripod. It should happen more often. Pao dja read that? Once a week my tuchus.

and P.S. The picture is of the mannequin at Kamiseta, which had no bottom clothing. That's kiko's hand on his leg.

Happy Birthday Pao!

In honor of his birthday, I'm posting my favorite picture of one of my best friends, Pao Agulto.

He's 25 today.

I kid I kid.

Hugs to Pao!!

We felt the Magic

In an attempt to bond and recapture our childhoods, the team went to Enchanted Kingdom yesterday. I have to admit, it's been years since I've been and I was feeling excited the night before, but expecting to chicken out at the rides that from what i remember scared the crap out of me. Jungle Log Jam for instance, there's something about that freefall that just made my heart stop the last time i went. And from what i remember, someone who was basically silent during that visit was brought to a scream by that ride. Anchors away too. Simple concept. Huge swing. Stomach dropper. Not once, not twice, but several, and for us weenies (Yes I am a weenie), almost countless times.

Despite these things I was jonesing for the trip. So much so i forgot that anything white was a no-no at Enchanted Kingdom if you don't want to be arrested for indecent exposure. (More on that later) Turns out everyone was psyched for this trip. Everyone was on time, some even early and we got there 15 minutes before we thought the place was gonna open. Turns out they were gonna open much later, at 2pm. Having 4 hours to kill, we decided to get lunch in Tagaytay which was like an hour away. Ate at Diner's. Bulalo, since it was Tagaytay. (Not as yummy as i remembered, but still good) Stopped at Starbucks to kill time, then headed back for teh EK fun.

The venti frap i had was a mistake, gave me a colossal headache even two biogesics couldn't cure. And even though i vowed to not ride Anchors Away I still went and rode the thing. Loved it the first few drops, then halfway through i just wanted the whole thing to end, which i disguised with nonstop giggling. Log Jam too, with RC literally dragging me to the line. I was screaming my lungs out before the drop, but turns out it wasn't as bad as I thought (but i didn't go again like the others, i just took pictures)

Rio grande is admittedly my favorite ride. Though this time i was truly soaked. Somehow i don't remember being soaked to the skin ever here, but this time i was. White anything is a mistake, especially if you plan to ride the rapids four times in a row, which we did. Afterwards, fully chlorinated and dripping wet we went to Flying Fiesta to dry off while a few of us went one round in the paintball field. After a change of clothes we headed back to Anchors Away and then to Wheel of Fate. This was my first time to ride teh pretty wheel, and i enjoyed the experience immensely. Wind in the hair, the lights. It was relaxing even for a height phobic like me.

A day to remember. Even if i did have several faux pas moments.