When cars collide

I remember hearing laughter, then frantic horns blaring, screeching tires then BAM!

I check my friend, Bev, beside me if she's alright. She said she is. We get off the cab and take photos of the wreck. The photo above doesn't really give an exact image of the wreck of the cab we were riding. We walk to the nearest shed. I thank God that Bev and I are safe.

I don't remember panicking right at that moment. But when we get on an FX headed for home, that's when things dawned on me.

I could have died. Then a thousand more scenarios play through my head. I arrive home and head straight for my parents room.

I wake up and prepare for work. I ride a cab. The driver steps on the brake. I find myself slightly nervous whenever he does that.

Dear Iskolar ng Bayan,

WATCH THIS:

I am only one but I am one. I cannot do everything but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do, and with the grace of God, I WILL DO IT. (Monsod, 2010)

Ikagugulantang Niyo!

I remember sitting in the front row of the Guerrero Theater. I remember laughing the whole night. I remember wanting to watch it again. That was in 2006. On October 2, 2010, at 3 in the afternoon, I sat on the second row waiting for the same show I watched four years ago to start.

When I learned that Dulaang UP will restage Shock Value and that my awesome Theater 12 (the one and only academic class besides PE na streetdance na naka-UNO ako yeaboi!) professor, Dexter Santos (pictured below), is part of the production, I knew that I should watch the show by hook or by crook.


Unfortunately, Sir Dex wasn't part of the show I watched. Instead, the original Ritchie that I watched four years ago played the part. Matt Deseparasidos was played by Jojit Lorenzo pictured below, instead of the Andoy Ranay who I watched before.

The show isn't for the conservative type. Beside me was a lola accompanying her apo who is a student of UP. During the infamous bed scene where Matt is caught having sex with Jason, lola exclaimed to apo, "Hija, ano ba tong pinapanood natin? Bakit kayo pinapayagan manood ng ganito?" I was laughing so hard both on the scene and lola's remarks! That day will always be marked as "The Day Shock Value shocked Lola"

Shock Value is a satire of the Philippine media and how it has exploited itself among other things. Underneath the surface, it is more than just gay sex and network wars. Amidst all the laughter is the reality that the industry is a flawed one.

I want to watch Shock Value again... and again... and again. Yes, it's THAT awesome.

Blast!

The crowds cheered. The schools grooved. And five out of 12 teams made it to the finals.

Last Sunday was UP Street's elimination leg for the Skechers Streetdance Battle. The competition, now on its 6th year, has become the biggest streetdance competition in the country since its inception in 2005 - as evidenced by its ever increasing ticket prices.

This is our team right before the compet:

Photo by: Liza Carbonel

Congratulations UP Streetdance Club for making it to the finals! Compet team - Aye, David, Toki, Renz, Jolo, Trizza, Lian, KatM, Miko, JM, Phim, Hannah, Espi, Reg, Canter and Leonard, props to you guys for represnting the org, our school and God, of course.

While we were having a blast with all the dancing, a real blast happened on the other side of town. The usually festive Salubong for barristers ended in tragedy as some got rushed to the hospital because of an explosion along the crowd-filled Taft Ave.

One of my college friends, Estella Maniquis, a current student of San Beda Law is one of the victims of the explosion.

Initial investigation points to frat wars as the cause of the explosion. At least a couple of victims had to have their legs amputated due to severe damage.

Dear culprit, I would wish that you blow up to pieces but I wouldn't. Instead I hope that you'd feel pain that the family members of the affected students are feeling.

Been reading..

a blog for more than a week now. Started reading posts from 2007, I'm now on the last month of 2008.

Funny how some of the posts just hit you on the spot.

Bye now, two more years of posts to read.

15 films

Here are 15 movies on top of my head - more like movies I would watch again and again.. and again.

MUST SEE WITHDRAWAL FILM: Trainspotting

MUST SEE ZOMBIE FILM: 28 Days Later


MUST SEE DREAM/REALITY AMBIGUITY FILM: Inception

MUST SEE KOREAN FILM: The Classic

MUST SEE NON-LINEAR FILM: Memento

MUST SEE VAMPIRE FILM: Let the Right One In

MUST SEE TEARJERKER FILM: Grace is Gone

MUST SEE MEMORY ERASURE FILM: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

MUST SEE DISTURBING COMMUNITY FILM: Dogville

MUST SEE SUPERHERO FILM: The Dark Knight

MUST SEE VIOLENT CHILDREN FILM: City of God

MUST SEE DYSTOPIC FUTURE FILM: Children of Men

MUST SEE STAR CROSSED LOVERS FILM: Atonement

MUST SEE POST-WW2 RACISM FILM: American History X

MUST SEE NON-LOVE STORY FILM: (500) Days of Summer

What's in your list?

Cough and Colds

Two weeks, not getting any better.

UGH.

Hunger Pains and Budget Cuts

The weekend was fun to say the least. But for the most part, I was in pain.

Friday night, due to heavy traffic towards Ortigas, nalipasan ako ng gutom. The Buffalo Wings from Charlie's at 10:30pm (a must try!) didn't help. So my stomach was hurting really bad. Then off to a party at Manor, Eastwood for Vimi's birthday. Joel's back!! Really fun night despite the badly aching stomach.


Saturday morning, woke up with bad headache. Left the house for the Skechers Kick Off Party and first round of college eliminations! Congratulations ate Mycs and LSDC Street! :) Then off to a road trip away from traffic-ridden MOA and EDSA. Roadtrip with some Club friends which took us forever. And it was traffic everywhere in the Metro na nalipasan na naman ako ng gutom. UGH. Met up with Refuge (my GCF growth group) for a birthday dinner then off to Minneli's house to visit her dad.

Sunday, church and family day. Started out okay until really late lunch came with some churchmates in MOA. We ate around 1:30pm at nalipasan na naman ako ng gutom. But the pain was extra hard to endure this time. The coffee didn't help. But sleep did! The pain subsided around11pm.

----

Short story: I NEVER liked Noy. Such a false sense of hope just cause he is the son of Ninoy of Cory.

And then this happened: A proposed budget cut of 1.39 Billion pesos. B is for BULL!


I am an Iskolar ng Bayan - MATAPANG, MATALINO, WALANG TAKOT KAHIT KANINO and I AM AGAINST Noy's 1.39 billion budget cut!

Noy can shove his yellow hope somewhere else, NOT IN MAROON LAND!

thanks to greatgatusby.tumblr.com for the awesome budget cut art.

Blogging again

It's been a looooong time. I don't even remember the last time I updated this blog. But here I go again. The need to have brain and emotional farts is just too strong for me today.

A blog that I've started reading is starting to depress me. Ewan, today's been off. Ugh gotta shake off the blues.

Hello there Mr. Weekend!

REFUGE in BOLINAO

So here's the beach that I went to during the Holy Week vacation :) and these are the people that made the trip so much fun. 'Til the next trip to the BEAAAACH! (NOTE: all photos were taken by Robin James Yu)

REFUGE.

The girls are making fun of my huuuuge tummy.

JUMP!

SAND. WATER. SUN. BEACH.

In a month's time, not only was I able to spend an awesome Holy Week vacation with really awesome people (will post photos later), I'm spending four days on an island in Palawan. Gotta love the beach. :)

*photo taken by Robin James Yu

The Employed Lad

Wow. It's been a while since I actually wrote something substantial here.

A lot of things have happened already. Quick recap:

• I got a year older.
• Bummed for two months (Dec to Jan)
• Tried the news wire life
• Road ended with the news wire life
  
• Two weeks of dancing
• SFX: Decade. Vision. Dance.

And just like that, I am shoved to a corner inside an office. And work commenced.

I easily got a job shortly after my Reuters stint. Ate Iona (a UP Street orgmate) submitted my resume to her agency. And before I knew it, I am reporting for work a week after.

A lot has happened since. Calls. Calls. Email. Event. Email. Rounds. Rounds. Rounds. Follow-ups. Calls. Rounds.
Work's something like that.

Rounds. Rounds. Rounds.

I thank God that immediately got a job. Hopefully, I'd be able to perform well. :)

The Fanboy

I was a freshman then when I watched the first Skechers StreetDance Battle at the World Trade Center, December 2005. It was for free then until Skechers realized that they can make big bucks out of it.

That night started what was to become the biggest and most coveted streetdance competition title in the country.

I was a basic streetdance student under Prof. Jerome Dimalanta then, and I remember him telling the class that the Club's piece would make us, mga Iskoand Iska, proud.

The UP StreetDance Club of UP Diliman won that night. And I went home, a proud Isko, never knowing that those people would later become my family.

Auditioning for the UP StreetDance Club was tremendously scary. Let's leave it at that. Haha.

Soon after, I was on the same stage with the same people I was screaming for, six months back. And dancing with them just feels so surreal. I used the present tense because until now, I am in awe that I get to dance with people of such great talent. And our relationship does not end on the dance floor.

Skechers 2 and 3 happened. And in both occasions, I lost my voice.

It's one thing cheering for people representing your school. It's a different story when they're your friends.

It's been three days, and yet I'm still ecstatic.

Armed with a new team with a different swagger, you guys conquered Araneta with much gusto.

I thank God for blessing the Club with Skechers 5.

Congratulation UP StreetDance Club!

I will always be a fan. Always.

Pause #2

haven't been blogging lately. No excuses. But Imma update this at least twice a week from now on :) ciao!

this is IT!

This turned me into an MJ fan!

Not a Love Story

This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story.

I'm a sucker for chick flicks.

And (500) Days of Summer has been on "YOU SHOULD WATCH" list since forever.

It's one of those films that, as my friend Abi Fernan wrote, "hits the men hard. Yes, the man gets hurt this time and I find it rare for movies to make men feel so hurt they actually TALK about the movie after and express the sadness that they feel.

And talk about the movie I did.

Obviously, the storyline was non-linear as it would jump from day 300something to day 22. But what I liked most was the French Impressionist treatment of the film. Think Amelie and you'd know what I mean. The play of cinematography and mise-en-scene was just amazing. Sorry, the Maskom in me is something I can't live without.

And the film comes with such a kick-ass soundtrack!

Vice Ganda's en-pointe Impersonation of the Mother

Battle for Terra

Donning 3D glasses, four friends and I watched the premiere of Battle for Terra at the SM Digital Theater last night.

It is very reminiscent of Wall-E as it explores how humanity itself is the reason of its demise - making Earth uninhabitable.

The film is a direct commentary to the effects of pollution, war and industrialization that is rapidly happening all over the globe.

Despite having a good theory behind the movie, the movie did lack depth in story.

Generally, the movie was good and entertaining way of disseminating the possible effects of the continuing abuse to the environment.

Maybe, we could've shown this one waaaaay before Ondoy and Pepeng?

The Online Helper

The Ondoy Chapter is far from over. A lot of things are yet to be done. And online, the campaign to raise awareness about what happened and to rally the Filipino youth was overwhelming. Platforms such as Tumlbr, Twitter and Facebook proved to be such powerful tools in mobilizing the Filipino people to help out and volunteer.

Here are some tools used during the campaign that circulated all over Tumblr and Facebook:

A poster urging people to donate goods at the Ateneo campus for their relief operations.

A poster asking people to help out and volunteer since celebrities from other countries are doing so. Why not us, Filipinos too?

A poster of the UP Sagip Isko relief ops campaign. Go Isko!

A poster encouraging Filipinos to help out in restoring, rebuilding and recreating the country.

A poster asking people to help and volunteer for those who are in evacuation centers.

A poster of the Raise the Roof benefit concert for Ondoy victims held at the Megatent along Meralco Ave.

On Twitter, a lot of Filipino personalities, politicians and celebrities utilized its powers by coordinating and updating volunteers through its micro-blogging capability. Spot.ph's article on the 10 Virtual Volunteers: helping out in the time of tweeting gave a list of ten people who were of great help while using Twitter. And I do have to give credit to Gilbert Teodoro for keeping the people updated with current situations all over the metro regarding NDCC matters and answering people's queries. (He directly replied to my Tweet regarding the supposed loose crocs scare in Pasig and Cainta).

The internet isn't just for porn as Avenue Q would argue. And during the past week, it has proved that it is such a powerful to rouse a nation's consciousness for their fellow countrymen.

Pause

Sorry for the lack of updates. Been very busy lately due to Typhoon Ondoy. But I do hope to post something soon. :)