Whether vain set 03

Uncle John's, Robinson's Galleria

Before my team-mates and I went to see the Pirates of the Caribbean screening last Thursday evening at Robinson's Galleria, we ate dinner at this relatively new place that exuded Jollibee meets Texas Chicken meets Shakey's. It's located at the second level beside Kenny Roger's. The fast-food restaurant serves chicken with crunchy skin, spaghetti with hotdog slices, pizza, Buffalo chicken wings, burgers between buns or with rice. For drinks, they serve Pepsi products. They won't be a challenge to McDonald's or Jollibee or even Wendy's anytime soon, but it's always good to have alternatives. Although it's a little quirky hearing anyone say "I've tasted Uncle John's..." or " Uncle John's tastes so good!", I say try it, you just might like it.

Threes Company

Spiderman battles three villains, finds an ally in one of them by the end of the movie, and finally finds out who really killed his Uncle. Or did he? If there's going to be another sequel, we just may get the shock of our lives when we find out that someone or something else killed the Uncle before he was shot by the Sandman when the latter was still a normal crook. Or maybe, just maybe it was a heart attack that did him in. I won't be lining up for that. The movie was painfully long. Mary Jane Watson looked untalented and helpless. Peter Parker really looked goofy the times Venom was bringing out his "badboy" side. And special effects aside, the couple of times that publisher Jonah Jameson was in the scene were what made the film a little bearable. 2.5 out of 5 stars.Shrek has babies and they're ogrishly cute and are probably very hot movie merchandise now. The movie, however, was not as cute. Thankfully, this movie was not as long as Spiderman or Pirates of the Caribbean. The only memorable scenes were the worn out death-bed scene of the Frog-King and Snow White releasing her adorable forest animal friends onto the unsuspecting tree-monsters via an electronica-sounding aria. 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Pirates of the Caribbean - At World's End. 2.5 out of 5 stars too! I didn't see the first sequel so I may not have gotten some of the background story but it was still too long for a movie. In addition, Calypso was boring, Jack Sparrow acted too crazy, and the Singaporean pirate Lord had too quick a death-exit. There were a lot of things going on in the characters' minds but all we see are the action sequences and Jack's crazy mind. The sea-nery was beautiful. The monkey and the parrot were more amusing than the other human characters. This is the end of this movie franchise, Disney?
All images are the property of their respective production companies. They appear here only for reference purposes.

Good-natured guys

Each individual's uniqueness is a power in itself. However, life always makes us choose- whether to side on good or to side on evil, whether to fight or to give-up, have negative things pull us down or use hard-learned lessons to grow.

This one's for Kipp's

Kipp's Chicken. SM Megamall Foodcourt. If you want cholesterol-and-blood-pressure-raising fatty chicken smothered in crispily-fried breading, this is the place to go. Warning: not for the faint of heart.

Whether vain set 02

Election shocker

National election day in the Philippines. You go to your designated voting precinct. Look for your name on the list of registered voters. Then line up to get your ballot.The election officers and volunteers help you. You get your ballot then go to a desk where there's a pen and a list of candidates.You fill up your ballot and then see your dad's name in the list of candidates for congressman. What the?!?!?!?!Your mom and sister are in shock as well and of course you vote for your dad. You walk back as if you just woke up from a dream to the election officers and submit your ballot. They slide it in the ballot box.
Meanwhile you get your finger marked. And you place your thumbmark on their voters' checklist.That's it: you've just exercised your right to vote. Not too much effort, right. And it's one of the greatest indicators of a sound democracy.

Scared-y Cat

Another song from 2001. I tried to splice two videos together to show the "conscience" part getting sung separately. Funny. Leave comments here or at youtube. Thanks!

Oh, and someone asked that I sing No Goodbyes again and to dedicate the video to his friends. I'll try to do that as soon as I can. You guys could also send in requests for dedications to this address.

***

Sometimes falling in love is more frightening than riding the tallest and fastest roller coaster with the most number of dangerously twisted turns and loops. Understandably, some folk would turn away from the entrance to the "love-ride" while some brave it. Some come out totally whacked, some unscathed, and a few enjoy the ride so much, they fall in line again.


Scaredy-cat
(2001)

I see her walk in the room
She wouldn't know it -- my heart just went zoom
I'd think of sweet words to say
But all I hear myself blurt out is "Hey."

I'm a scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat
Wish I knew how to roar
A scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat
Never felt this before
A scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat
I think I'm in love with --

#You'd catch a glimpse of her eyes
#And suddenly you're all but paralyzed
#Her voice then blows you away
#She's all you think about every single day

#If you're in love with her scaredy-cat
Wish I knew how to roar
#You better tell her that, scaredy-cat
I wouldn't know how to
#Move it or lose it now, scaredy-cat
She might even not like you

Me, I'm a scaredy-cat
My knees buckle when at bat
I fear losing her but then I realize
The worth -- her smile, her voice, her eyes

#You're just a scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat
I'm going to take the chance
#Plain old scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat
I'm going to make the stance
#Scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat
I know I'm in love with --

#Shed it, scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat
I'm gonna be braver
#No more scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat
Whatever her answer
#Is he scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat?
I love you

Jollibee, is-tat-chue?

Jollibee, I almost didn't recognize you! Why are you dressed up like that? Oh, times are tough, huh? Your queen is hungry all the time? And thousands of kids to feed too? Well, good luck!

Ortigas food trip

When you're working in one of the buildings in Ortigas, you just might have been to one of these places to get your fix of morning, afternoon, post-lunch, pre-dinner, post-dinner, and midnight snacks. First off: Wendy's at the AIC Gold building. This building has a food-court type of space going on at the back and there's a small Wendy's stall there that serves better Frosty than the other Wendy's stall at Strata (below).And then there's McDonalds over at Shell Diwal station. If you cross over to Metrowalk, you'll find Bun on the Run. Try their hungarian sausage sandwich. Oops., that's my C2 on the table.And as I mentioned above, there's Kainan sa Joseph Strata in between the PLDT building and the Post Office. They're open 24 hours and there are a lot of small stalls that serve a variety of food from shawarma to sisig to pizza to waffles, etc. But if you decide to get a Wendy's Frosty from the Wendy's stall here, check if it's even frozen. One time, I got a cup of milo instead.And over at Emerald Avenue, there are a bunch of other restaurants: KFC, Greenwich, another McDonald's that serve shakes and of course, there's a Jollibee.Speaking of Jollibee, when I went to Tagaytay last night, I saw Jollibee at his second (part-time) job...

An alternative

Sometimes when you most need help, Superman, Batman, the Flash, or Wonder Woman are somewhere else helping someone else or are on a mission to prevent some other big catastrophe. You don't need to look further because there are a lot of heroes out there to help you. Some may not be the heroes you've envisioned- in colorful tights and with grand entrances- but they can be just as effective. They're like generic medicine- you should treat them just as special because they can get the job done as well.

Artsy fartsy

I took a couple of hours of charcoal painting class early this week and I think I did ok. On the second and last day before we went ahead to do our "final project", the instructor drew samples on the upright sketch-pad-board-thingee, mostly vases and apples and grapes. When he gave the signal for us to start, he also put on some latin music. Good thing I had some mp3's in my phone and earphones with me to drown out what was to me distracting. When it was time to leave and I was able to look at what my classmates had drawn, I saw a gray sea of vases and apples. I slid my board inside my bag and left the class, the instructor was surrounded by a handful of people asking some more questions about technique.
I had a hard time with the cheese- I drew that first on the board. Does it look like cheese? The "craters" were hard to shade and make appear to be depressions on the surface. And then I worked on the mouse and lastly the cord. Here's a caricature I drew of my sister way back in 1994. I used to really like drawing, besides writing; and when I dropped out of Ateneo College, I tried to go to U.P. College of Fine Arts. I took the talent test and on the day of the test, I was late and sat at the back of maybe more than a hundred people. I could barely see the statue we were supposed to draw, being near-sighted, so I did a sort of an abstract impression. Of course I didn't pass.

Whether vain set 01

So I take daily pictures of myself and post them nine at a time and after nine sets or when I get tired of doing this, I look back and see how much I've changed. Did I get fatter? Someone just told me "mag-diet ka na. tumataba ka. baboy na face mo." (go on a diet. you're getting fatter. your face is a pig.) That translation is so funny! Some days I think I look old. Some days especially when it's cold, my joints feel old. So I just smile and the camera-phone flashes.

Big-hearted heroes

After long days of battling evil, heroes need to relax too. This afternoon, a bunch of them converged at Nipa Hut in Pasig and ate, drank, had laughs, sung karaoke, and took pictures. Relaxing with peers is one way of recharging before going back to the real world where evil lurks in every corner, even in the internet!

No Goodbyes

Hmm, I think I actually started writing this song late 2001 then maybe finished it (got the final arranged music on tape) around January 2002. Anyway, here are the contents- a brief note and the original unrevised lyrics- of the notepad file I had for this song around that time. (That's my old SMART mobile number posted below)

***

Some people take longer to get over some stuff, others just a bottle of beer, or a movie, or another cutie. Sooner or later, move on, don't get stuck, especially on something or someone who's clearly not worth getting stuck on. You can say your goodbyes or...


No Goodbyes
(2002)

I would sit alone and hope noone would bother me
I'd sing alone, find comfort in one melody
But then I found you
My world turned around
I only want to sit or sing alone with you

My life had changed
Experienced much I never would have known
It's so strange to learn this painful lesson now
When I had found you
My heart had set for home
But you couldn't let it in
I'm still alone (with you)

No goodbyes, I never really had you
So why should I feel so bad to leave you
No goodbyes

T'was a mistake I let myself fall for you
Hard to shake off letting go or wanting to
be more than friendly as I had raised my hopes
And as I pick my broken pieces now I know

No goodbyes, I never really had you
So why should I feel this bad to leave you
No goodbyes

*bridge

No goodbyes, I never really had you
No goodbyes, I'm leaving you, leaving you
No goodbyes

=====
jon b. c. corrioso
+63-918-914-7567

"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong."
-- Joseph Chilton Pearce

Good time

I had been listening to DJ Mo's morning program on Magic 89.9 FM for a couple of weeks now- usually when driving to work. And I try to catch their now (in)famous Wednesdays' Forbidden Questions episodes when he would pitch naughty and controversial questions/tasks to his guests. DJ Mo's co-hosts are nymphs Mojo Jojo and Maui Taylor. Tuesdays, these three would try to outdo each other in trivia questions or games until one of them has (almost) completely undressed.

This morning, but since Maui Taylor was not around, the duo of Mo and Mojo took calls and had fun with their listeners. I had just woken up when Mo suggested they play a "Same Name" game where the object would be to give twonames of people whose surnames match but who are really different from each other. They gave a couple of examples and I forgot if they took a caller already before the song break but I caught their phone number and dialled and was surprised when during the song break and after only one ring, Mo's voice was on the other line asking me "Who's this?" I told him my name and the purpose of my call and gave him my contribution for the name game: Derek Ramsey and Elizabeth Ramsey. He swore a malutong na "Putang-" then told me to hold the line.

When the song ended, the two dj's spoke with me and I was even given a *Cute boy alert* for having a nice-sounding voice on air. They also joked about the name I gave- JB, that when you spell it backwards... So on to the game, I gave them my contribution and it was funny enough to merit free movie tickets! Mo then asked me to come by tomorrow to pick my prize up. Coolness.

DJ Mo's radio program, Good Times with Mo Twister, airs Mondays thru Thursdays 6-9AM. The images are from the Magic 89.9 site- click the post title.