Rockstar Rundown
Rockstar: Supernova is really starting to feel like a Mark Burnett show. It's my new not-so-guilty-pleasure. The man is interested in group dynamics, and where
Rockstar: INXS had rather diplomatic players with drama that seemed to come only from JD Fortune,
Rockstar: Supernova has
Survivor written all over it. And it's nearing that point where I will be irrationally consumed by and ridiculously passionate about the show, and will no longer be able to function properly.
Some of my friends and I are routing for Dilana. Who else can make
Time After Time rock like that? (The Everything But the Girl re-make is still my favorite, though). However, Fred's guess is that Dilana's too good for Supernova. His SMS after this week's preformance show read "I just think it's wrong for her to join Supernova. She can have a great solo career. Let them have Lucas (sic). He can't make it on his own." Which means I may be right in guessing that Dilana is the Marty of this competition. Lukas is still this year's JD, not Zayra as others may think. I think he's a poser. But I like how he did
Bittersweet Symphony. And good Lord, how could Zayra messed up
Like An Addict? (Layla's new favorite-song-on-Tata's-nightime-repertoire). Ay-yay-yay.
Now, if you really want the inside scoop on
Rockstar: Supernova, one of the best places to go is
www.curlio.com, and I found this thread about what really happened on last week's elimination show -
http://www.curlio.com/article/8928/Rock_Star:_Supernova_questions_commitment (scroll down and look for Sprout's entry). Basically, Bobblehead Phil was quoted in a newspaper saying he was just using the show to promote his band, and that he didn't care much for Supernova (insert big red lights saying IDIOT!). You can find the news article that Dave Navarro read out loud after Phil was eliminated and the cameras were turned off here -
http://www.delmarvanow.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060707/LIFESTYLE/607070304/1024.
And because I can't stand Ryan Star, I got a kick out of this bit of Sprout's report:
"Ryan on the other hand is a different story – he is hell-bent in breaking her [Dana's] confidence! He is a creep and finally, he got a reality check! Surprisingly, they edited every bit of Jason’s comments addressed to Ryan! Jason actually was in a relentless mood and he kept on attacking Ryan for his comments – so much so that at one point he said that though Ryan criticizes Dana – every chance he gets – Dana’s voice and stage presence are in fact better than his! Ryan tries to explain himself, but Jason was not in the mood and he kept on hitting Ryan where it hurts the most – his ego!"
Gotta love Jason Newstead!
Other places I go to for my Rockstar fix are
http://leperpop.blogspot.com and Dave Navarro's blog
www.6767.com. I've been visiting these sites since
Rockstar: INXS and have been very entertained by Sid F'er's and Moist Rub's "reviews". Hilarious! And readers get so much more insight regarding the show from Dave (yeah, close
na kami. Hahaha!). When all else fails, there's always
www.sirlinksalot.net/rockstarsupernova.html where I found this -
http://www.jokersupdates.com/jarticles/article.php?article=926.
Last, but not least, I found the next two paragraphs on
http://www.realitynewsonline.com/cgi-bin/ae.pl?mode=1&article=article9791.art&page=1:
"The second singer in the bottom three is… Zayra. Yay! Thanks, everyone, for not voting. We get her P&CCP. Laughing, Gilby tells Zayra that this might be the last time she sings here. Please, please, please. She’ll be doing “Not an Addict” (which she calls “I’m Not an Addict,” but whatever) by K’s Choice. Another song I’m not familiar with, though I’m somewhat familiar with K’s Choice (mostly because they perform “Virgin State of Mind” in my favorite episode of Buffy). Instead of rocking out, as she’s been told repeatedly to do, Zayra has chosen an acoustic, stripped-down song meant to highlight her voice. We all know how that goes. It sucks. For the first time I wish Simon Cowell were here to tear her to shreds. Girl can’t sing. I wish I could turn this off but I’m not allowed to. Am I? No? Darn."
"Zayra, la cucaracha, is relieved because she (and all of us) thought she would go. She can’t believe she’s still here and she gets another shot. She’ll use it the best she can because this is a miracle. Ug. I leave you with a quote from one of my faithful readers, Steve, who fired this off to me minutes after Phil’s elimination: 'Apparently, Satan wasn’t satisfied with J.D.’s soul from last year. He now has made a deal for Zayra’s, too.'"
After closing the article, the bottom of the webpage has this to say about the writer:
"Jenn Brasler is an Assistant Editor of Reality News Online and an aspiring writer from Falls Church, Virginia. By day she works for a court reporting firm, and by night she’s a spy for a covert branch of the CIA. You can e-mail her at
luckyjenn@hotmail.com. She thinks Supernova has lost their minds."
I want to have a conversation with this Jenn Brasler. I think we're going to enjoy bashing Zayra together.
I'm hooked. I'm so hooked. And it's baaad. As Bianca would say, "Damn you, Mark Burnett! Damn you!"
***
For more information on the fantastic Dilana Robichaux, visit
www.dilanarox.com.
'Coraline' Comes to Life
One of my favorite books is being made into an animated movie that - I think, I hope, I beg, I pray - will deliver. It's
Coraline (described as a strange book for strange little girls) by Neil Gaiman, with Dakota Fanning in the title role (she's the amazing actress in
I Am Sam and whose talent was wasted in
The War of the Worlds) and Teri Hatcher (of
Lois & Clark and
Desperate Housewives fame) as Coraline's Mother/Other Mother. The film is due out next year.
I remember reading
Coraline in my cousin David's house a few years back. Doors are important in the story and they kind of freaked me out. So you can just imagine how hard it was for me to sleep at night with the bedroom door directly infront of my bed. I wasn't sure if I should keep the door shut or keep it slightly ajar - both with the relative comfort of knowing that David was upstairs, Gars was in the next room, and the rest of the Formans were in the next house. Either way, my "Other Mother" could easily come for me and no one could save me - us - but myself. Yes, I know, sometimes I get too involved with the books I read. It was one of those days that I really missed Max.
In any case, to learn more about
Coraline (the book), visit
http://www.mousecircus.com/. Enjoy the creepy music!
Being Pretty
We Talk Pretty!One of my favorite writers, David Sedaris, is coming to town! PowerBooks has arranged three booksigning events and one "live reading" in its Alabang, Greenbelt and Shangri-La stores next week. No purchase necessary (they obviously learned from FullyBooked's Neil Gaiman event mishaps). I've got my copy of Sedaris' hilarious Me Talk Pretty One Day waiting for his autograph. Visit http://talkprettymanila.blogspot.com for details.We're All So Pretty!Also coming to Manila this weekend is The Queer Eye for The Straight Guy's Fab 5 - Carson Kressley, Kyan Douglas (how I wish he was straight), Thom Filicia (I love his interior design work. Practical and never over the top), Jai Rodriguez and Ted Allen. I MUST meet Carson! I love him! He's my favorite queer! Point your browser to http://ayalamalls.com.ph for scheduled appearances.Thank the good Lord that my cast wilkl be removed this Thursday. Woohoo!Not So Pretty......was the The 1st Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards at the Rockwell Tent last Saturday. Of course I feel bad that Benjor and Joonie didn't win, but I'm glad that they made it to the finals. And FullyBooked owner Jaime Daez said he would compile and publish the work of the finalists into one book (neat!).However, the event was so poorly organised. And it would take too much time ans space to rant about it. But the thing that bugged me most were (1) not being able to vote for the People's Choice Awards online; and (2) letting us know the schedule of events.If Benjor didn't tell me that the awarding ceremony was at 7PM, our friends would not have known that we didn't need to be there so early. Well, I had just flown in from Singapore at 5PM, so I had enough time to find out who the winners were.
Then, when Andaya and I got there, we saw a poster with a rather small font size above the entrance to the Tent. It had the schedule of events for the day which included a screening of Neil Gamian and Dave McKean's
Mirrormask at noon (I knew I should have bought the original DVD when I saw it Singapore!). Now at least this schedule was posted online, but it was a separate entry in FullyBooked's website that wasn't exactly easy to find - I mean, they could have just made one page for the entire
Unmasked event, but instead, they had three. And as far as my friends knew, the schedule wasn't even published in any local newspaper. Maybe they didn't want a lot of people there. I don't know.
I just think the whole thing could have been better planned.
"Feeling" PrettyI took Khun Malou's advice to make sure I always look good now that I'm pilay because I'll never know daw when some hot guy is going to help me. Naku, Malou, marunong na ako mag-make-up at smile ako ng smile (KC would be so proud of me), pero wala pa akong nakikilala. Sabi nga ng iba, kilabot daw ako ng mga security guard ng 6750. Gumigimik pa rin ako at lahat-lahat, nanood ako ng World Cup matches sa mga bar, wala pa rin. Natutuwa lang yata sila na may pilay na makulit, sinisigawan ang mga football player at referee sa tv, inom ng inom, naninigarilyo pa rin, akala mo walang nangyari. Hindi nalang sana totoo si Superman so I could take off my shoe (not shoes, with my pink nailpolish, not black), step on his super boots, and fly away to the sweet orchestrations of If You Could Read My Mind.
Pero eto ang laughtrip: nag-pa-foot spa ako two weeks ago. Dahil isa lang ang paa ko, half-price siya! Pero yung pedicure, both feet.
It Must Be Fate
I just saw Fernando Zobel de Ayala checking out of the Marriot (sigh). Oh my God, we were in the same hotel! Gyaaaaah! Yes, I know I will never end up with him (he's happily married and all), but someone like him would be nice. Hehehe. Yeah, dream on, girl....
Am I The Only One...?
...who misses
Rockstar: INXS? Bianca sure does. Who else? Andaya, maybe? Roman? I mean, the concept is good, the girls seem to rock harder this year than the ones last year, but...
OK, my main beef is song selection. What were the producers thinking?!! Are these the only songs they know? If they used a particular song in season one for the rockers to perform, it should not be used in season two because there will be
endless comparisons between the season one rockers and the current contenders. Some cases in point:
- Cult of Personality by Living Color: I thought that Ty did this perfectly. Phil didn't even come close.
- I'm The Only One by Melissa Etheridge: Damn you, Mark Burnett. Bring Deanna back! Please!
- Heart-Shaped Box by Nirvana: Jordis nailed this one last year. It earned her a well-deserved encore. Patrice is too Sheryl Crow to do as well. Her version was ok, but it didn't have that "WOW!" factor that Jordis' performance had.
- Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand: I decided Marty was the bees' knees when he sang this in last year's second episode. This new rocker, Chris, is it? Horrible. I don't know why he wasn't sent home last week. And you just can't beat anything Marty did last year, unless you are...
- Dilana singing Nirvana's Lithium. Oh my God! There she was, channelling Kurt Cobain, hardly moving during her performance. And suddenly...she moved! And she scared the shit out of me! I had just finished bitching about how Rockstar was turning into American Idol for rockers simply because we, the voting public, only have an idea of what Supernova will sound like in the end (although, I must say, I fully understand why Chris Daughtry didn't make the Rockstar cut and ended up on American Idol instead). We all knew who INXS were, what their sound was. But Supernova? Rock supergroup? Ex-Motley Crue, ex-Guns n' Roses, ex-Metallica, new singer...equals...heavy metal with a bit of glam? Seriously. What is this new sound they're talking about? So I'm just going by what I think a "new rock supergroup of the 21st century" should sound like. Then Dilana took the stage. And...HOLY SHIT! WIIILD! (or as Def would say, "Dude-pare, alam na 'to!"). Right after her performance, Miggy called me on my mobile and I could hear Tanya laughing in the background as he said, "O, ano, American Idol pa rin ba?"
So, despite the song selection issue and what I feel are lackluster performances from most of this year's rockers, how goes my vote? Dilana is the one! Yes, I know I thought Marty had it in the bag last year, but Dilana is absolutely perfect for a rock band with the likes of Tommy Lee in it. She freaked me out last week, and impressed me today with her amazing rendition of Johnny Cash's Reign of Fire (I've got the track on "repeat" over the internet now. I love broadband!). Had Dilana been in the same competition as Jordis and Marty, she would have given them a run for their money. And she'd kick JD's ass from here to Kingdom Come. Of course, I'm not thinking of an INXS audition.
But who am I to complain? I can't sing to save my life. However, I am part of the all important internet/SMS voting public. See, I went out of my way to purchase the Marty Casey and Lovehammers CD, but haven't bothered with INXS' Switch. And I'm not the only one.
Happiness and Gloom
Happiness is...
...celebrating the 5th anniversary of my 28th year with my family. Tito Masa cooked a fantastic Italian meal
from scratch! He certainly raised the bar for dinners at our house.
...Benjor making it to the finals of
The People's Choice Awards of the
1st Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards (sponsored by Fully Booked and endorsed by Neil Gaiman). Visit this website to read the short story and comics entires -
http://www.fullybookedonline.com/eventdtl.php?id=10. Benjor's is called
Karnabal and it's absolutely wicked! I love it! (good "cameo", if you will, by Enzo and Sid). I'm so proud of Benjor's work! If you like it, vote for it!
...my dad getting a new job...as a financial adviser! Actually, that's ridiculously funny!
...Italy winning the 2006 World Cup! Yes, I know, I really wanted Brazil to win at the onset. But Italy played as a TEAM, and they played beautifully. I didn't expect them to make it this far. Brazil had too many celebrities and their coach didn't do a good job of instilling some discipline, making a strategy, and taking advantage of the individual strengths of the players.
...Muaresmo
finally winning Wimbledon. She's a fantastic player and really deserved this grand slam title.
...knowing that my cast will be removed next Thursday, 20 July 2006! Yahoo!
...a good book. Last week, I finished
Bono in Conversation with Michka Assayas (a book I got Bianca for her birthday). Bono is such a beautiful man! So inspiring. Now I'm reading
The Devil Wears Prada. Fun, mindless reading. Highly recommended for long flights...and boring hotel stays.
...flying business class on Singapore Airlines. Wonderful!
...well, it's more "hilarious" than anything, but they're a lovely couple and I've always enjoyed their company. My ex-boyfriend's parents were on the same flight to Singapore this morning, except that they were on their way to Jakarta. His mom hugged me and called me "my ex-future daughter-in-law" and that got a few stares. Very funny!
...Fernando Zobel de Ayala being on the same flight to Singapore as I (sigh). And best of all, he smiled at me! Yippee! Of course, I smiled back! I've never been so
kilig! Yes, he raised the bar for having that winning smile, a smile rivaled only by his brother's, Jaime Augusto. Heeheehee.
Gloom is...
...Zidane's exit from the football stage. Exactly what did Materazzi
say?!?!!
...this fast growing mountain of work that I've got to do. At least it's not a survey!
...not being able to attend Watson Wyatt Philippines' 25th anniversary cocktails tonight. I would really have wanted to see Tito Wil, Joji, Lynette, and my old officemates again.
...being checked in at the Marriot Hotel on Orchard Road, directly across Borders (US-based bookshop with a branch in Wheelock Place), but not being able to walk to it because I'm still in a cast, still using crutches to get around, and Singapore is not a very disabled-friendly place. Apparently, once I need to get out of the hotel, I need to take the underground walkway which does NOT have an elevator but has STAIRS, get out across the street at Shaw House, continue walking underground, then go up the other side of the street to Wheelock, again, by climbing STAIRS. Forget it. Even my beloved books are not worth the torture.
...this hotel not having AXN or Star World. I can't watch CSI: NY, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and Rockstar: Supernova. ARGH!!!
...the freakin' itch inside my cast! And I can't scratch it! Waaaaah!
Travel Advisory: Don't Drink the Water
This advisory is from http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/advisories-avis/2006/2006_53_e.html.
Great. I'm travelling on business next week. Methinks I need to bring a bigger bottle of purified water.Advisory
2006-53June 30, 2006
For immediate release
Health Canada cautions air travellers with compromised immune systems regarding water quality on aircraft
OTTAWA - Health Canada is informing air travellers with compromised immune systems that they should avoid drinking any tap water on aircraft, including tea, or coffee from the galley or using water from the lavatory faucets for brushing teeth.
There is always a possibility that bacteria can enter the aircraft water system from time to time from a variety of sources. As part of its random inspections of aircraft water, Health Canada found Total Coliform bacteria, which usually indicates the water is of poor quality or stale and that the water system should be sanitized. Total Coliform is normally not harmful to human health. However, if E.Coli, a type of coliform bacteria, is present, this can be harmful to human health.
Whenever Health Canada finds bacteria in airline water, it notifies the airline of the problem and directs that corrective action be taken, including posting warnings in the lavatories and galleys, providing bottled water to passengers and staff, and shutting down the water system. The system must be sanitized within 24 hours for E. Coli and 48 hours for Total Coliform. Water systems must then be re-tested.
Recent random testing of water on aircraft showed 15.1% of aircraft tested positive for Total Coliform bacteria and 1.2% tested positive for E.Coli bacteria. Most contamination was found in water from lavatory faucets. These results are consistent with those found by the Environmental Protection Agency in the United States in 2004.
The airlines have been provided with their results and satisfactory remedial action was taken in all instances where deficiencies were found. If you are planning to travel by air and have specific questions regarding the water quality and safety, please contact your airline or your health-care provider directly.
Health Canada will continue to work with the airline industry on the goal of safeguarding public health.
Don't Talk to Me
I hate to see grown men cry. It makes me cry, too. And therein lies the beauty of football. REAL football, not "American football", where the ball is actually handled with your FEET, you run around for 90 minutes with 9 other guys who will do almost anything for the team (heck, for their country!) ,and the only protection you have against pain is a pair of shin guards and your talent that commands respect on the pitch. The players are human. The coaches are human. The fans are human. No one is afraid to show how they feel - happy, angry or sad - so openly. Bear hugging and kissing a teammate after scoring a hard-fought goal is nowhere near Brokeback Mountain.
But today continues to be a sad day. I'm likely to snap at anyone who so much as mentions the World Cup. Was it not enough that Argentina lost in a penalty shoot out, the worst possible way to settle a score? To say I am sorely disappointed with the
Selecao is not enough. My blood is ashamed. Where was my team during the World Cup quarter finals? Where?! I can only imagine the kind of welcome the Brazilian football team will receive upon their arrival in Sao Paolo. I wouldn't wish that on anyone, actually.
But I've got to hand it to Zidane. He played a marvelous game.
Les Bleus were all heart. Very South Korea in 2002. Am I routing for them now? I don't know. I think Germany is going to win this one...against Portugal. Wait...who said I was going to watch the finals? Do I even have a real reason to continue...?
Photo care of http://FIFAworldcup.com.
