Goodbye FrancisM!

My Philippine Idol

It’s been a year since I posted here in this blog. As much as I hate it, it seems that I only post when people who I admire die. Let’s hope I could change this soon.

Anyway, this post is also in my Multiply site.

When Jan Nieto, who was my officemate, was a contestant in Philippine Idol, we were in SM Megamall almost every weekend to cheer for him. However, aside from supporting Jan, my family also looked forward to seeing Francis M who was one of the judges of the show.

You see, my family is a die-hard Eat Bulaga family and being one of the Dabarkads, we really loved Francis M. Actually, among the 3 judges, it is only with Francis that we had our picture taken even if it was with just a camera phone.

Personally, as my jologs Friendster profile says, my two favorite movies are Bagets 2 and Ninja Kids. I’ve been watching those 2 movies since I was 7 until I have burned our betamax. Of course it did not end there because I bought the VCDs when they were released. Guess who is on both movies? Yes, FrancisM (together with Bistek and Monching). Until now, I try to be as cool as Ponce and want a Momo steering wheel. If you don’t get it, then review your Bagets 2 tape.

When he became the Master Rapper, I admit I bought those peace necklaces (yes, I was Grade 4 then). Until now, one of my favorite songs is Kaleidescope World. I guess our Kaleidescope World just lost one of its brightest color. But I’m sure, wherever he is now, he’ll be fine.

And as a true Francis M fan, it’s time to say, “SEAMLESS NA!!!!!”

Brad Renfro snubbed at the Oscars

Well, this will be short.  I just want to point out that it’s a shame that Brad Renfro was left out in the In Memoriam segment of the Oscars this year.

Every year, the In Memoriam is one of the segments that I wait for (no, I’m not morbid) just because I want to remember the artists who have contributed to the entertainment industry (being the show biz junkie that I am).

Of course, this year I really waited for that segment because I wanted to see if they will include Heath Ledger.  (see my previous article about Heath here).

Well, when Hilary Swank introduced the segment and said that some of those who we will remember left too early, I knew that Heath would be there along with Brad Renfro since he died exactly 1 week before Heath.  Although, he died by OD-ing with heroin  (something I don’t approve of), I believed in him as an actor.

His first movie, The Client, was the 2nd John Grisham book I’ve read.  Its film adaptation is  my most watched John Grisham film.  Actually, I loved it because they stayed true to the book unlike The Firm so I don’t get tired watching it.  It also helps that Brad was such a cute kid back then.  I think every one had a crush on him and he was a regular cover of BOP (hee!).  He was brilliant as Mark Sway and he was able to match the acting of Susan Sarandon and Tommy Lee Jones (both Oscar regulars) in spite of it being his first movie.

He made me cry in The Cure and made me stay with Apt Pupil (although I was bored).  Gosh, I even saw  Tom and Huck for him.   Sadly, his career went on a downward spiral after that.  I think it was last year when I saw his recent picture in PerezHilton and saw that he did not age gracefully.  He was only 24 then but he had a receding hairline already and he just looked plain awful.  I searched us.imdB that time and learned that he had some troubles with the law and was battling heroin addiction. Well as they say, once you go to heroin, there’s no turning back.

Even with the tragic way he died, I thought he would be there since I remember River Phoenix (another favorite of mine) was mentioned even if he died by inducing a lethal combination of cocaine and heroin in front of Johnny Depp’s Viper Club.

I tried researching why  he was not mentioned.  I am not sure about who gets remembered or not but still it’s a shame.  The logical reason is probably because he was not an Academy member.  Cynics would say it’s because of how he died but then again, maybe the In Memoriam editor just plainly forgot about him.   Now, that is SAD.

P.S.

It seems that I don’t know how to write short.

10 Things I Love about Heath Ledger

The world woke up today with the shocking and tragic news of Heath Ledger’s passing at 28 years old. Another case of a young Hollywood star leaving us just when he is at the cusp of stardom. (Yeah, I know he is an A-lister already but I mean the Brad Pitt kind of A plus-list).

The fact that he died on my husband’s birthday just makes it more memorable to me.

I know that I haven’t been posting this week because of my hectic workload. Also, as I’ve said before, I’m still trying to organize my entertainment blog so I am avoiding posting anything showbiz related entries here but I just had to break my silence.

I will not dwell anymore in the negative rumors surrounding his death like illegal drugs and overdosing on pills while with pneumonia since nothing is final yet pending his autopsy. Also, let’s just give him his peace. What’s important is we know that if he did indeed died of substance abuse, we learn from his mistake and will not do the same.

As I was trying to compose my thoughts about Heath, what better way to do it than posting my own list of 10 things I Love about Heath in honor of his first big Hollywood movie (and the movie that introduced him to me).

In random now,

65th Golden Globes Awards

Due to the Writer Union’s strike, the 65th Golden Globes Award Show was canceled. The Actor’s guild already said that they will not allow members to attend the ceremony in support of the Writers. Of course, would anyone watch a bunch of reporters (The Golden Globes are from an international group of entertainment reporters) hand awards to whoever had the guts to cross the picket line?

However, apparently, they still announced the list of winners. Personally, I don’t think it would have made such a difference if there was a show or not. Just look at the list below and save for a handful, I am not familiar or excited about them. Sorry to the fans of the other winners but I think Johnny Depp would have been only high point in the show.

Oh and of course, would anyone miss this year’s Miss Golden Globe, Rumer “Potatohead” Willis?. I certainly won’t.

For complete list of winners, click more

Twitter Away

In case you’ll notice the new addition to my sidebar, yes, I have joined the Twitter bandwagon.

I know that posting major posts could take long but I would still like my audience to know what I am up to so I signed up for a Twitter account.

I’ve read some reviews why some bloggers won’t Twit and it is mainly because they felt that they would lose their privacy with Twitter. Well, yes that could happen but it still up to you what you would post. I think of Twitter as a sort of a controlled Big Brother. My audience would know what I am up to but only if I tell them.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up and follow me.

What a Week

I’m so proud of myself. I was never a writer so updating this blog is really an effort for me. More so, it’s the busiest week at work and yet I only missed two day in posting an entry.

I’m so tired at work especially since November because one of my teammates transferred to another team and I assumed most of his work.

I realized that updating my blog is my outlet. I might not be updating this blog so much about showbiz because I am gathering material for my new blog in Blogger. Hopefully, I could unveil it next Saturday depending on my workload. *Crossing my fingers*

Till then, cheers to another week!

WordPress vs. Blogger

When I decided to blog, I chose between WordPress andBlogger among all the other free blog hosts available.  Eventually, I chose WordPress because of the good reviews I read about it and because I wanted to migrate to wordpress.org eventually.

But I overlooked one detail for WordPress, that is, Google Adsense is not available in wordpress.com.  If I wanted to put up my Adsense, I have to migrate to wordpress.org which was my original plan as soon as I have gathered critical mass of blog readers.

This led me to explore my other choice, Blogger.  Knowing that Blogger is now owned by Google, I knew that putting Adsense in my blog would be a breeze.  While I was creating a new blog with Blogger, I found it easier to customize with other add-ins and the support is more extensive.

The advantage of wordpress for me is it is easy to write posts here and to monitor site stats.  However, the more I explore Blogger, the more it made sense for me to move in there because of overall easier blog management.

Therefore, watch out for my new and improved blog once I have set up my Blogger entries.  My new blog would be tighter in terms of content and would have a signature way of posting.

By the way, my Blogger account would not be mominthecity anymore since it is not available anymore.

Hint:  My Blogger account name would reflect the way I would post and it would showcase  mainly the majority of the referrals I got in my 2 weeks stay here in wordpress.

I will still maintain this site but edit its content so that it would really contain my original plan for it, that is a blog for moms.

Project: Weight Loss

I got this idea from Chuvaness. I believe that if I write about it then it becomes a reality. So I went to ticker factory to get my own ticker so that I could track my own weight loss. Starting today, I am putting the weight loss widget on right column of my blog so I have a constant reminder of my project.

I am 5’2″ so 105 lbs is my ideal weight. 110 lbs is not bad but I would like to stretch it to 105 lbs.

Before giving birth to my first daughter, I was 102 lbs. I topped out at 141 lbs. during my 8th month then down to 138 lbs prior to giving birth. After a year, I was able to bring it down to 105 lbs. so I believe that it is doable.

However, I have gained 25 lbs. ever since I started working so I am now at 130 lbs. I gave birth again last year and went up to 150 lbs but I am back at 130 lbs.

Mind you, I am not doing this for only for vanity (but it would be nice to fit back to my old clothes) but because I can already feel the strain on my knees so I better start working on it.

I don’t plan to go on diets because I am breastfeeding but rather I would just eat more sensibly. I would also increase my physical activities. Hiphop Abs, here I come!

Any other weight loss techniques are welcome. Please leave suggestions in the comment box. Aja! Fighting!

Rain will not sing in the Beijing Olympics

Last week, I read in the news that my Korean husband, Rain (Bi), was offered by the Olympics Organizers to sing the official in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Of course, as a fan of Rain, I was happy to hear that he was offered such as a prestigious opportunity. It would immensely boost his career as a world star if he would be able to showcase his talent in the Olympics especially that he has an upcoming international movie, Speed Racer, to be directed by the Wachowski brothers. The Wachowski brothers are the same people behind The Matrix series.

However, with this offer, a round of cyber debates between the Chinese and the Koreans ensued. This is of course because the Chinese were questioning the organizer’s choice of choosing a Korean in the Beijing Olympics when there are a number of good Chinese singers who can do the honors.

As much as I love Rain, I understand the appeal of the Chinese. The Olympics is their chance to showcase to the world what they have to offer and and it would be ironic if a foreigner would be doing one of the highlights of the show. Although we are all Asians, and Rain is arguably the most recognized Asian singer nowadays, it would still be more appropriate to see a Chinese singing in the Olympics.

That is why I am so proud of Rain’s decision to turn down the organizers because for him it makes more sense if a Chinese would be the Voice of the Olympics.

It is very hard to get this kind of opportunity but it is even harder to turn down such offer knowing the exposure that you can get. He is still planning to hold another event in the Olympics but not as the main voice of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

I wish him good luck and I hope that this ends the cyber debates that are on going.

PBB2: Open Letter to ABS-CBN

With the recently concluded Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2 as Ruben Gonzaga as the big winner, let me share an open letter written by my sister in her multiply blog. I share the same sentiment as her so here is her letter in full.

(Picture credit: Pinoy Big Brother 2 Official site)

” I am a part-time housewife if you may, living in Canada. My main form of entertainment is watching shows on the internet and reading blogs and forums.  It’s winter and there is nothing to do outside unless you want to catch a cold or flu.

You could say when Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition 2 started, I subscribed to ABS CBN now and immediately got hooked.  Either I didn’t just have anything else better to do or I found the characters/housemates extremely fascinating, it did not matter.  What I liked was knowing these people and being able to “spy” on them 24/7 waiting for something exciting and getting to know how they would project their true selves.  I doubt anyone could pretend for that long, if you will be able to, I commend you for that is a feat in itself. For me, it was much like getting hooked on watching “Friends” when you feel you knew the characters even if you didn’t (I still love my Rachel and Joey).  PBBCE2… It was social experiment at its best.

Last night was the big night, the grand finale when they announced who the big winner was.  Fourth place went to Will, third place went to Gaby, second place was Riza, and big winner was Ruben.

Now I don’t even want to complain about how the livestream telecast is sometimes  mostly ABS-CBN’s logo (coincidentally happening when there are truly exciting things happening) or complain about the absolutely annoying housemates they stuck in (Jen that 26K girl and Yayo Aguila).  Or they way they Forced Evicted Jon but let Gaby unscathed when it was clearly her who first asked what should they do if they were asked to nominate and instigated that WHOLE conversation.  Or even why did they not stop the voting for Jon when they have decided he would be forced evicted?

I just want to know… has it all been fair thougout?  Was it really reality til the very end?  Did Ruben really win over Riza? And somebody please answer this…. Why are you pretending Mariel Rodriguez’s very disturbing, if I may say, “actions” still have gone unacknowledged? What has ABS CBN done to acknowledge Mariel cussing at Riza Santos.  And why are you guys protecting Mariel, a no-talent (No sing, no dance), no-brain (What is Reuters?), and no-manners girl ( I don’t even have to enumerate).  Is it because her brother in law is a Garcia? Is it because her manager is Boy Abunda? Or is it because ABS CBN is just waiting for things to blow over and pretend nothing happened.

As a viewer of 24/7, I know that the portrayal of the housemates through their primetime show is not the same as how they are 24/7. They edit to make people look bad, they edit to make people look good.  I know its TV, but let us not forget, it should be reality TV.  And we are watching 24/7, we know what really happened apart from those that they edit for TV.  Why offer 24/7 livestream when they manipulate viewers into thinking otherwise.

Why? Why? Why????  As a concerned consumer I think we all need the answers to these questions, don’t you think?“

Please feel free to circulate the letter and hopefully it reaches the right people.