First Year

Today is my blog's 1st birthday. It is also the 1st year death anniversary of my Papay. The whole family is in Zamboanga City to remember him. Funny I told this to my friend Paul in YM and he didn't know whether to say congrats or condolence. ;-)

I would have wanted to post longer, a "look back" entry perhaps, but I still have a deadline to beat. I also haven't slept yet.

And so, I'm ending my anniversary post by giving special thanks to my loyal readers, er, reader (read: Carla Fan), my co-blogger friends who occasionally read my posts too (Miaka, Waterfowl, Pink, Dude, Mar, and lately Sisig), and my blog lurkers who are too shy to post a comment (I know two, Michiko and Chegay!). I know my audience noh!?. Of course, thanks to the SCQ Reload fans! ;-)

You inspire me peeps! I "heart" you all! Heh.

TAR Rules!

Alas, my winning streak in predicting reality show winners has come to an end. Colin and Christie (pictured) only came in 2nd place in The Amazing Race 5, while twins Kami and Karli only placed 5th. Still not bad considering I pegged them to go far based on First Episode editing alone. (Haha! Self-congratulatory mode! :D) I just did not believe the editors would hand us the winners that easily. See, in the first episode, the editors gave us Chip's very telling confessional where he said something like even if they made lots of mistakes in the first leg (read: missing a clue for the Detour), they still came out unscathed. He then added that the other teams better watch out coz once they get their act together, they will be on top. Of course, I only remember this now that Chip and Kim won. :D

While I personally think they won majorly because of LUCK, I wouldn't take Chip and Kim's win away from them. I was just somehow disappointed because in a way, the "delayed flight" was the deciding factor in winning the race. How I wished that the producers placed the Detour and Roadblock in the final destination city to give racers with delayed flights some time to catch up. You might say I'm just sulking because I was know-it-all in pegging for a Colin and Christie win (heh!) but I do believe they're the "best" racers this season.

Nevertheless, I love the 2-hour finale (editing was topnotch) and the whole season in general (superb casting of racers). What made this season more special was the Philippine pitstops. Argh, Palawan is "paradise". I wanna go there. With the lackluster season premiere of Survivor: Vanuatu, I think The Amazing Race might just have replaced it as my current most favorite reality TV show. Now, on to the sixth edition baby! :D

Maid In Heaven

Chona, poser ka man o hindi, (well sabi mo nga, helper ka, hindi poser, hehehehe :D) you ROCKS pa ren! Bwahahahaha.... :D

Vanity Fair

Met with Miaka and our other college blockmates last Friday night. Me saying it was "coolness" seeing them again is definitely an understatement. "Coolness" is also Miaka's PALM camera. My vain self loves it! Hehe. :D My college blockmates actually said I looked good "daw" that night and whether they were joking or not, heck, I don't care! I only hear that compliment once (okay, twice) every ten years so I took the oppportunity to "whore" myself with Miaka's PALM camera. Here are the pics, courtesy of Miaka...and hey, I hear you laughing. :D


Me and my red market bag


Me and Candice


Me and Waterfowl


Me and Juvy

This has got to be my most embarrassing blog post. Ugh! :D

Just Can't Get Enough

Few hours from now and it's going to be the 60-minute premiere of Survivor: Vanuatu! WOO-HOO! Argh, from The Amazing Race 5 to Survivor: Vanuatu, di ko na kaya to! :) I'm even listening to the new Survivor Theme while I'm writing this. I'm not really that much excited with this one as I was with the previous shows, probably because of the fact that this is the 9th Survivor and the story editing is already predictable, but still, Survivor remains to be one of my all-time favorite TV shows. I don't know if I already said this before but the reason why I love it is because while for other peeps, Survivor might be classified as "reality", for me it's actually "escapism". You know, you create your own rules, moral values (or lack thereof), and social order while playing "bahay-bahayan" in your own lush island. I mean, what's more fantastical than that?! ;)

And you know what's more good news for Filipino Survivor fanatics like me? Okay, okay.... Studio 23 will bring former Survivor winners here in the Philippines this October! Yes, that's what my insider friend told me! Happiness! :D I will kill to be able to have my Survivor Amazon buff signed by its winner Jenna Morasca (who already confirmed in her website, btw, that she's coming.) I hope Rob Cesternino or Thailand winner Brian Heidik will also come here coz they're two of my ultimate faves. I followed their gameplay and reached Final 2 in a Survivor Fantasy Game in some internet forum more than a year ago. (Dude beat me, grrr! :D)

Going back to Vanuatu, I usually give my predictions as to who'll win based on the editing lines of the first 3 episodes but just for fun, based on their pre-show interview in the official website, the following I believe, have what it takes to be the Sole Survivor...


1. CHRIS - Watching his pre-show interview, I can see the hunger in his eyes. His motor mouth also reminds me of Pearl Islands Winner Sandra which probably means he is a good TV character.



2. RORY - Never underestimate the lone African American contestant. He seems to be downplaying his being smart but I think he's got a lot of tricks to offer under his sleeves.





3. ELIZA - She's on Friendster! A certified Reality TV geek and appears to be Rob Cesternino's female counterpart.





4. LEANN -This female band singer seems so "groove" in her pre-show interview. She might be a longshot but nevertheless, a dark horse.



5. TRAVIS - He reminds me of that cool dad in the first season of The Simple Life. And with me always rooting for the villains, I think it would also be refreshing to see a nice guy finishing first this time.


Let's see if I still "heart" them after the first episode. :D

Meltdown in Manila

I am so betting for Colin and Christie to win Amazing Race 5. You know me, I always go for the villains. I do want to say it's "groove" that the Philippines has two pitstops this season but that's just so February 2004. Tim, our All My Life DOP, told me way back then that his friend was asked to be the Palawan Pitstop segment producer. Argh, I would have wanted to kill to work for the show's local production but I think they were here when we had our Star Cruise shoot. Dream on!

K, back to work...

Alive Still

I just wanna tell you guys that I'm still alive and surviving. Nothing has changed much with my daily routine. Actually, it's the same daily routine - writing, revising and brainstorming for the youth soap opera. Take note that I'm not naming the soap anymore. (See Tagboard for obvious reasons. Heh. :D ) Not that it matters anyway. See, one of the contributing writers already discovered my blog and told me I posted a lot of "incriminating evidence" here. (Hi Olive! :D ) I guess I should be panicking now but it's all cool. I actually, jokingly told one of the bosses that it's okay if they fire me so I won't have to go through the long ordeal of having my resignation application accepted in this mainstream TV bureaucracy.

I just miss my social life, that's all. I miss the company of my friends. I miss blogging around. Reading through my archives, I realized I may have been penniless before this soap opera work came in but I did have fun. Which goes to say I ain't having fun these days. :(