100 Songs To Save Your Life

I got this from Manuel Quezon III’s blog, but it actually originated from Big Baddie’s blog. The general idea is to create a playlist that you would want your future child to listen to. ONE HUNDRED looks like a big number, but trust me, it’s not easy to limit the list to just 100 songs. My first draft reached 174 and I only listed one song per artist. And it’s harder to choose one song for each artist, especially my favorite ones! The songs I chose aren’t exactly the artists’ best, in my opinion, nor my super favorites. These are the songs that played some significance in my life.



Dear future spawn,

At this point, I still have not met your future dad (or maybe I have but I don’t know it yet!). I don’t have a clue whether he’s going to be rich, gorgeous, intelligent and tall. I wish he would be. But most of all, I wish that there’s really a future dad for me to meet and mate with so that I can actually produce a spawn. Don’t you wish that, too, little yet-to-exist one?

ANYWAY. If there’s anything that I can share with you now, it won’t be riches nor strikingly good looks. It certainly won’t be HEIGHT (for your own sake, pray that future dad has oustanding height genes!). What I can share with you is my passion for three things: music, books and movies.

Let’s talk about music first. Music is like a best friend. It will always be there for you no matter what. There’s music to celebrate your milestones and triumphs, there’s music when you feel down and blue, there’s music when you fall in love, there’s music when your heart gets broken, there’s music to get you through nights when you want to hide out from the world. Music breaks down walls. Music puts into words the thoughts that you can never say.

I’m sharing with you 100 songs that saved my life. Actually, there are more than 100 songs that saved, and has continued saving, my life. For now, these will do. Someday, I will sit down with you and tell you the stories and memories I associate with each song. And I hope someday you would love music the way I do and find those songs to save your life.

Love, your future mom (IF and WHEN that moment comes!)

100 SONGS
001. 5ive, Until The Time Is Through
002. 98 Degrees, The Hardest Thing
003. Ace Of Base, The Sign
004. Adam Sandler, Grow Old With You
005. Aerosmith, Cryin'
006. Alamid, Your Love
007. Alanis Morissette, That I Would Be Good
008. Aqua, Turn Back Time
009. Arashi, Sakura Sake
010. Arkarna, So Little Time

011. Ash, Lost In You
012. Band Aid, Do They Know It's Christmas?
013. Beach Boys, Wouldn't It Be Nice?
014. The Beatles, I Will
015. Bic Runga, Sway
016. Bon Jovi, Always
017. Boyzone, And I
018. China Crisis, Wishful Thinking
019. Crowded House, Don't Dream I'ts Over
020. The Cure, Boys Don't Cry

021. Danny Wilson, Mary's Prayer
022. Dave Matthews Band, Crash Into Me
023. David Pomeranz, King And Queen Of Hearts
024. Dead Or Alive, You Spin Me Right Around
025. Depeche Mode, A Question Of Lust
026. Dishwalla, Angels Or Devils
027. Divinyls, I Touch Myself
028. Elliott Yamin, Moody's Mood For Love
029. Eraserheads, With A Smile
030. Fat Larry's Band, Zoom

031. Foo Fighters, Walking After You
032. The Foundations, Build Me Up Buttercup
033. Fra Lippo Lippi, Stitches And Burns
034. Francis Magalona, Kaleidoscope World
035. Franz Ferdinand, Take Me Out
036. From Autumn To Ashes, Short Stories With Tragic Endings
037. Gin Blossoms, Till I Hear It From You
038. Goo Goo Dolls, Name
039. Green Day, She
040. Hanson, Mmmbop

041. Harem Scarem, Something To Say
042. Heart, These Dreams
043. Hirai Ken, Canvas
044. Hoobastank, The Reason
045. Imogen Heap, Goodnight And Go
046. Introvoys, Kailanman
047. Jars Of Clay, Fly
048. Jason Mraz, I'm Yours
049. Jeff Buckley, Last Goodbye
050. Keane, Somewhere Only We Know

051. The Killers, Mr. Brightside
052. Live, Selling The Drama
053. Maroon 5, She Will Be Loved
054. Matchbox 20, Unwell
055. Metallica, The Unforgiven
056. Michael Jackson, Smooth Criminal
057. Mr. Big, Wild World
058. Muse, Can't Take My Eyes Off You
059. Nelly, Dilemma
060. New Radicals, You Get What You Give

061. Nickel Creek, This Side
062. Nirvana, Lithium
063. Noel Cabangon, Kanlungan
064. Oasis, Wonderwall
065. The Other Two, Selfish
066. Our Lady Peace, Clumsy
067. Parokya Ni Edgar, Silvertoes
068. Paul McCartney, This Never Happened Before
069. Pearl Jam, Black
070. Peter Cetera, Glory Of Love

071. Phil Collins, Groovy Kind Of Love
072. Pink Floyd, Wish You Were Here
073. Radiohead, Karma Police
074. Rivermaya, 214
075. Rob Thomas, Smooth
076. Sandwich, Butterfly Carnival
077. Siakol, Lakas Tama
078. Sisqo, Incomplete
079. Smashing Pumpkins, 1979
080. Snow Patrol, Run

081. Sponge Cola, Dragonfly
082. Stonefree, Listen
083. Sublime, Santeria
084. Sugar Hiccup, Five Years
085. Survivor, Eye Of The Tiger
086. Tears For Fears, Mad World
087. Third Eye Blind, Deep Inside Of You
088. Toad The Wet Sprocket, All I Want
089. True Faith, Hi
090. Two Minds Crack, Upside Down

091. U2, Pride (In The Name Of Love)
092. Ugly Kid Joe, Cats In The Cradle
093. Urbandub, First Of Summer
094. Vertical Horizon, Everything You Want
095. Verve Pipe, The Freshmen
096. The Verve, Bittersweet Symphony
097. VST and Company, Ikaw Lang Ang Aking Mahal
098. Weezer, Buddy Holly
099. Wilson Philips, You're In Love
100. The Wonders, That Thing You Do


P.S.
After this, you should check out the other songs of the artists I bolded.

15 Books

Instructions:
You're not supposed to think too long or too hard on this one. List 15 books you've read that will always stick with you -- list the first 15 you can recall in 15 minutes. Don't take too long to think about it. Then tag 15 friends and see if they write their own lists (part of the challenge is to think about which 15 friends would have the weirdest or most interesting book list).

I posted this in my facebook. Feel free to post your own list and tell me about it!

1. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J.K. Rowling)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro)
5. A Long Way Down (Nick Hornby)
6. The Chamber (John Grisham)
7. Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)
8. Ang Paboritong Libro ni Hudas (Bob Ong)
9. Haunted (Chuck Palahniuk)
10. It (Stephen King)
11. Protect and Defend (Richard North Patterson)
12. Presumed Innocent (Scott Turow)
13. The Book Thief (Markus Zusak)
14. Battle Royale (Koushun Takami)
15. Case Histories (Kate Atkinson)

Shell Cottage

This picture just made me a very happy fangirl:

This picture was from the Shell Cottage filming for the Deathly Hallows movie. The presence of Helena Bonham-Carter means she’s shooting the scene as Hermione impersonating as Bellatrix Lestrange AND HOW AWESOME IS THAT? Ron was in some kind of disguise which look hilarious. Warwick Davis (Professor Flitwick) was also at the shooting, only this time he’s portraying Griphook.

I’m excited beyond words for the HBP film this July, but the excitement for the last two movies is now catching up whenever I see pictures and news about the shooting. Now I just have to pray to the HP deities that Gary Oldman be included in the Deathly Hallows film, however brief his role was in the book.

(Pictures from celebrity-gossip.net)

Starting Over

How does one start over again? How does one begin rebuilding something when you have nothing left, not even scrap, not even ashes, and the only proof that you have that that something even existed are the memories you have in your head? How can you start again knowing that it will never be the same again?


I lost ALL my saved DSlite games when the micro SD I used for the R4DS had a formatting error.*weeps* I have backup NDS files for some of the games and it’s quite easy to leech off the other games via torrents, but, man, I didn’t have backup SAV files, which means ALL scores, ALL completed stages were gone! For a casual gamer like myself, those scores, those completed games were my badge of honor. It took me months – MONTHS! – to finish New Super Mario Bros. (yes, that’s how much I suck at gaming) and OMG if I want to finish it again, it means I have to play again that stage where Mario has to battle giant frickin’ spiders!

Okay, so maybe I’m overreacting. At least it wasn’t the DSlite unit itself that conked out on me. But I can’t help it! I’m sooo disappointed. I don’t know whether I want to play again the games I’ve previously completed, or just download stuffs I haven’t played before. It’s a different experience when you’re playing something for the first time from when you’re repeating a game because you just like it or you’re trying to find better ways to complete a mission. I don’t know. I really do tend to overanalyze things and can you believe I’m overanalyzing video games?!

I plan to do a general cleaning of my room this weekend, but I’ll probably sneak in a few hours of gaming. Or maybe I’ll just finish a book. Or marathon watch Leverage. O maybe I’ll just sleep.

Easter Promises

I went to sleep today to a "Happy Easter!" text message. It was not so much as a very advance greeting but was more like me sleeping really, really late. Goodness, I was still awake by 5:30 this morning! (my reply to the text: "Happy Easter, too! Did you wake up really early or are you still trying to sleep like me?")

I finally managed to get a grade of A in Big Brain Academy after so many attempts to top my previous A minus grade. It was a bit disappointing, though, to go from having the brain of Pythagoras to having the brain of a movie critic. No offense to movie critics, who I'm pretty sure are really bright people, but I was expecting something like, I don't know, Newton? Certainly not Einstein but someone close. Makes me wonder if they just randomly assign brain types to your scores.

Anyway, Big Brain Academy was not what kept me awake until the following morning. After I beat my own score, I decided to replay some stages in Ninjatown where I didn't get the highest possible score. I'm... kind of a dork that way. The penultimate stage was still driving me nuts when I decided to check the time and realize that it's already 5 in the morning!

It took me probably 45 minutes to go to sleep. Then I had this spooky dream: I was out with friends and we were taking pictures. The problem was, my digicam shows a different background image for each shot I took! My friends were all in the picture, but the scenery changed to how the surrounding might have looked like about 50 years ago. Creepy! Do you have those moments that you are aware that you're dreaming and want to wake yourself up from that dream? So I had that moment, but I didn't wake up (not immediately, anyway). I decided to leave that place and go - to McDonald's! I was in line and there's a guy behind me who I felt was trying to look at my face. And then he made a pass on me which prompted me to splash his face with a cup of coke. The guy turned out to be an old crush of mine and I was kind of crying inside that his dream-self was a perv.

Then I woke up and it was only past 8 in the morning. Argh! I haven't been asleep for more than 3 hours! I woke up to more Easter greetings. One of the messages said: "It's morning again. Get up and wear a perfect smile! Embrace the day with sheer delight, and let us thank the Lord for an added life. Happy Easter!" This one made me grin and mutter a silent "thanks!" for another day. Then I promptly went back to sleep.

I woke up again for the second time today, about 3 hours later, and mutter another silent "thanks!" not just for an added day but for the privilege to wake up and to sleep any time I want to!

Sorry, this is such a random post. I have a weird morning today. Happy Easter everyone! :)

Muffliato

I’m re-reading Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (surprise, surprise), and I can’t wait for the movie to hit the big screen! Who here is excited to hear Severus Snape’s “unfixed, mutating, indestructible” speech? Alan Rickman’s voice is so going to rock that scene!

I think I already mentioned that one of my favorite, favorite scene in the ENTIRE series was when Harry asked Luna out to Slughorn’s party. It never fails to crack me up! Here’s to remind you of that awesome scene:



"How would you like to come to Slughorn's party with me tonight?"

The words were out of Harry's mouth before he could stop them; he heard himself say them as though it were a stranger speaking.

Luna turned her protuberant eyes to him in surprise.

"Slughorn's party? With you?"

"Yeah," said Harry, "We're supposed to bring guests, so I thought you might like.. I mean..." He was keen to make his intentions perfectly clear. " I mean, just as friends, you know. But if you don't want to..." He was already half hoping that she didn't want to.

"Oh no, I'd love to go with you as friends!" said Luna, beaming as he had never seen her beam before. "Nobody's ever asked me to a party before, as a friend! Is that why you dyed your eyebrow, for the party? Should I dye mine too?"

"No" said Harry firmly, "That was a mistake. I'll get Hermione to put it right for me. So I'll meet you in the entrance hall at eight o'clock then."

"AHA!" screamed a voice from overhead and both of them jumped; unnoticed by either of them, they had just passed underneath Peeves, who was hanging upside down from a chandelier and grinning maliciously at them.

"Potty asked Loony to go to the party! Potty lurves Loony! Potty luuuuuurves Looooony!"

And he zoomed away cackling and shrieking, "Potty loves Loony!"


Too bad Peeves was cut from the movie. :(

But I’m getting ahead of myself! I haven’t gotten to that chapter yet, I’m still on Harry’s first Pensieve trip with Dumbledore, to the Gaunt’s house. I wonder how much of the Pensieve scenes will be included in the film. The book is more expository so I don’t know how much liberty the director took to make the film adaptation more action/adventure oriented.

Reading the chapter on Slughorn’s first Potions lesson, I suddenly remembered an idea I have before. Here’s the deal: assume that we are in Harry Potter’s world. What would your answers be to the following questions:

1. What would your Patronus be?
2. What shape would your Boggart assume?
3. What would Amortentia, the most powerful love potion, smell to you?
4. Finally, what would you see in the Mirror of Erised?

My answers are:

1. I think my Patronus would either be a big cat, like a tiger or lynx, or a shaggy black dog like Sirius Black!
2. Obviously, it’s going to be like Ron’s, a big spider. Ack.
3. The smell of the fresh pages of a new book, mango and sun-kissed skin. I don’t know how to explain the last one, I guess it’s that kind of smell that evokes beach and warm sand on the skin.
4. This is a difficult question for me. I guess my “deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts” is not something I can just share to everybody, right? So, here’s a more share-able version: I would see myself back in school, taking up something related to the Arts or History, like Literature or Archeology. The corporate life is often too stressful that I longed for something less practical.

What would YOUR answers be to these questions? :)

(pic courtesy of Mugglenet)

House of Ill-Advised Procrastination

It seemed I dropped off from the face of blogging universe! It's not entirely procrastination (I think!) but a lot of things took up my spare time these last few days, and I found myself lacking the energy to write about what’s keeping me busy and/or entertained. So I’m updating in bullet points!

• Nintendo DS lite
  I rarely talk about my gaming endeavors, because I already admitted to myself that I pretty much suck at video games. That didn’t stop me from trying, though; if anything, my doggedness at pursuing something I’m not really good at is my saving grace. :D
  
  SO. Ninjatown and Big Bang Mini are costing me hours of sleep. I officially gave up on Prince of Persia; the game movement is erratic and unreliable to me. Wish I could say the same for Sudoku. Why am I still staying up late for Sudoku? Just how many Sudoku games can I play in this lifetime before I say enough is enough?!



• Jdramas
  Obviously. I am watching THREE on-going jdramas this season, and catching up with another one. I gave up a long time ago on the Korean Hana Yori Dango. It started well, but went downhill for me. The story is nothing like Hana Yori Dango or Meteor Garden. Heck, I’d take Meteor Garden 2 over the second half of the kdrama (and I disliked MG2!). In addition to the three, oops, four current jdramas, I also finished watching one old jdrama. The current jdrama season is about to end, but there’s no rest for this adik. Next season is going to be awesome! Jun! Toma! Sho! Me flailing each week and the hard drive about to crash and burn!



• American TV shows/series
  I finally caught up with Burn Notice’s latest season! Still behind Fringe damn it. I’m waiting for Criminal Minds’ season 4 to end so I can watch everything in one go. Gave up on Prison Break, but would like to reconnect with Heroes and House. American Idol is still not interesting enough for me. I’m kind of tempted to check out Dancing With the Stars because Steve-O is one of the contestants. (Yep, he’s the guy from Jackass and Wildboyz, and he’s paired up with Lacey Schwimmer!) I also want to watch Kings, Leverage and The Mentalist... Let's see about that!



• I… haven’t read any new books since January. *cries* I’ve been re-reading Foxtrot comics and the Artemis Fowl series.



• Still busy complaining about the weather! I just want to go to Baguio!

Fivesome

Honestly? I had a hard time elaborating on these because I’m pretty sure I’ve talked to death about these things a lot of times already and I don’t know how to make this post a little bit more interesting without me just repeating myself. Either Jen knows me too well or I’m way too predictable! Either way, let’s give this a shot!

(Comment to this post to get your own 5 things from me!)

5 Things From Jen:

1) Post-it
I started collecting post-its when I was reviewing for the board. The review school was near the Corona store in Recto and they have local post-its and flags that were cheaper than the trademarked Post-It by 3M. I used the post-its and flags to organize my review materials and notes, and I want to believe that those helped me pass the board! I haven’t bought any kind of post-it or notepad in more than a year (Woo hoo! Be amazed at my self-restraint!), although I can’t help but make sad little noises whenever I see new post-its at National Bookstore.

2) Apple
I don’t hate apples, I just don’t… like it!

3) Dangling Earrings
My preference in earrings used to be simple and uncomplicated. I wear small silver hoop earrings pretty much all the time before. Along the way, I discovered that dangling earrings are the easiest way to look lady-like! I prefer cheap earrings with playful designs, different enough but not too loud or clunky to draw too much attention.

4) Harry Potter
Do I even need to elaborate on this? :D I LOVE Harry Potter ridiculous amounts! I lost track of the number of times I’ve reread ALL 7 books (Book 3 being my favorite, is the most tattered and battered). Aside from the 7, I also have Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through The Ages, and Tales of Beedle the Bard. I plan to collect the UK adult edition books. I have DVDs (original) of movies 3 to 5. I joined an HP-related contest!

But by fandom standards, I’m just an average fan – I haven’t created an HP fansite, I haven’t written an HP fanfic, I never supported a ship and have not engaged in shipping wars with wankers fans. And yet, I spent way too much time creating my own theories about the series, overanalyzing characters and scenes, memorizing lines and spells, and inserting HP references in normal conversations.

5) JDrama
My current crack of choice! There are days when I can sensibly explain why I like jdramas and prefer it over pinoy telenovelas: jdramas are shorter (usually 9 to 11 one-hour episodes) and have fixed storylines that even if the drama became popular or highly-rated, the series will not be extended or the plot suddenly veer away from its original intentions just to satisfy fans’ clamor.

Also, I’m yet to see a jdrama that features clichés I hate, to wit:
- baby-switching
- “we are siblings we can’t be together” angst angst angst “oops, no son, I was an adulterer, he’s not your dad so she's not really your sister”
- I will SUBTLY oppress you by slapping you and pulling at your hair every scene we’re together, dialogue-ing “wala kang utang na loob!” when you so much as fight back a little, throw food at you, finally throw you and your clothes out of the house (which I should have done A LONG TIME AGO if I really hate you that much)
- you can tell I’m poor because I lack table manners
- you can tell I’m the kontrabida because I dress better than the bida (even if she suddenly becomes rich, her fashion sense is still godawful) and I CACKLE when I’m evil-ing

That’s not to say that jdrama don’t have their own clichés; it’s just that so far, I can take those clichés better.
- rain scenes of doom (leads break up in the rain, male lead angst beautifully in the rain, etc etc)
- squee-inducing embrace from the back (bonus if done in the rain a la Hana Yori Dango)
- batshit crazy antagonists (so you don’t feel bad for laughing at them because you’re not supposed to take them seriously)
- gratuitous parade of androgynously pretty guys, with bonus gratuitous nudity (how can anyone NOT like that???)

Obviously, today I’m coherent about my affair with jdramas. Often, I’m too caught up with either its soul-crushing angst or massive suspension of disbelief or pure crack-iness to explain properly why jdramas tick. Jdramas taught me that “WTF?” and “W-wait. What?” are completely acceptable reactions that convey the awesomeness of the drama.

(for someone having a hard time elaborating, I sure have some long answers!)

Hana Kimi Stole My Heart And Social Life

A year ago today, an obsession was born.

For lack of something to do, I decided to watch the DVD of this TV drama that a friend lent me. He first told me about this two weeks prior on our friend’s house blessing.

Friend: Do you like Japanese shows?
Me: Well, I watch anime.
Friend: Are you familiar with the human tetris?
Me: On youtube? Yeah! I’ve seen those!
Friend: Hilarious, isn’t it?! How about jdramas?
Me: Uh, no…
Friend: Good! I’ll show you something! Tell me if you don’t like it, but really, it’s awesome!

And then he made me watch on a portable player the first few minutes of the drama. It featured this cute girl dressed in a boy’s uniform trying to sneak in at a popular all-boys’ school.

Me: She’s a she, right? What is she doing there???
Friend: *smiles mysteriously*
Me: Right. I’m supposed to watch to figure it out.

I got until the part when the girl met the tall, somewhat arrogant athlete ("she disguised herself as a boy for this guy?!?!") when we were cut off by our friends. He promised to lend me the DVD so I can watch the full season. I was curious enough to find out what happens next so I said yes.

So – a year ago today, I watched. And watched. And watched. And finished all eleven episodes in one day. Didn’t I say that it was the start of an obsession?


By the way, that little drama that changed my life? It was called Hanazakari no Kimitachi e, or Hana Kimi for short.

I have to admit that it wasn’t obsession love at first sight. The show was weird! Why was it called a “drama” when it’s so anime-ish? How can the students of this exclusive school for handsome boys - them of the raging hormones - be so blind and stupid they don’t realize there’s a girl in their midst? And why is that girl so attracted to that jerk when the awesome Nakatsu is so willing to go gay for himher? It was crazy. It was full of crack. And OMG I love it.

The biggest reason for this mad love was Ikuta Toma. I didn’t know a thing about him before Hana Kimi. I didn’t even like him the first time I saw him on screen. But Toma’s turn as Nakatsu was so memorable and so lovable he ended up stealing the drama from the two leads. I couldn’t care less whether Mizuki and Sano hook up, I just want to see Nakatsu do his crazy monologues or walk around half naked looking for the damn shampoo. His homo janai dance was epic. I was flailing so hard when he decided to pursue Mizuki and damn if it makes him gay! I was flailing equally as hard when he discovered that Mizuki was actually a she and damn whatever her reason was for hiding her identity! And then he got rejected, and I love him for taking it like a true gentleman.

I ended up re-watching the jdrama for almost two months. I figured I could limit my jdrama intake in this lifetime to just Hana Kimi. And then other dramas and other Japanese boys happened.

Hana Kimi and Toma led to Hana Yori Dango and Matsujun. Hana Yori Dango and Matsujun led to various Matsujun dramas and Arashi. Arashi led to irreversible addiction on my part and bewilderment on the part of my friends and families. So far, my JE-fandom is limited to just Toma and Arashi, but I’m getting to know the other JE boys bit by bit. The sheer amount of media available (on Arashi’s part, especially) was scary at first, but I’m trying my best to catch up. It’s a long way to go for me, but I learned to just enjoy each TV show/drama/concert that I could watch, and not worry about the others I haven’t seen yet.

I love that this obsession of mine led me to this LJ-fandom where fans are friendly and helpful, where fans don’t have strange or crazy expectations from their idols, where the obsessives mock and poke fun at their idols at regular intervals (and not be accused of loving them any less). I may not be able to convince my RL friends to get into either Toma or Arashi, but I’m glad I get to meet others who are bigger fans than I am.


Happy anniversary to me and Toma and Hana Kimi! :D

Couch Potato Version 2009

So – for those who are expecting hoping against hope that my jdrama addiction will wane this year, you’re in for a disappointment. You’re free to wander, though, to more exciting places whenever I gush about my obsessions.

I’m excited over two upcoming jdramas – the one starring Ikuta Toma (of course) and the one starring Ohno Satoshi (the role looks hilarious and a far cry from Maou). Plus, I intend to finish my remaining jdrama DVDs before I buy/download new ones. See, I’m trying to be organized and in control!

I’m still playing catch up with my fave American TV series and starting on some promising and recommended series. Can you believe I have not watched a single episode of Prison Break season 4? I’m not exactly motivated to watch PB since the last season was a disappointment and I’m not particularly pleased with the Dr.-Sara-Trancedi-back-from-the-dead storyline, but I want to change my mind about this series, I really do.

Then something happened that made me weep – weep for my hard drive, weep for my couch potato time, weep for my soul. The Korean version of Hana Yori Dango/Meteor Garden is now on and I know I just have to watch it! Which reminds me – I still need to finish my HYD picspam. And finish reading the manga. And watch the movie.

I’m yet to start with anything and already I’m cracking under pressure. Damn.

Arashi For Dream!

My pimp post about Arashi is BEGGING to be written – especially after I read the translation of their latest TV guesting and… damn. This boy band is too retarded and too full of crack and I love them for it!

Their retardery, especially Sho’s, couldn’t come at a better time as I find myself suddenly attracted to this boy (my previous crush was Matsujun. I still like him and all but I’m very much attached to Sho right now!). I mean, what’s not to like? Sho is good looking with a hot body to boot, he’s an awesome rapper, he has a degree from Keio University (considered an Ivy League school in Japan) (and he got his degree while STILL in the band!), and he’s a weekly newscaster for News Zero. Beauty and brains, he clearly is.

And then he and the rest of his dorky bandmates went on NATIONAL TELEVISION and talk about how an old man at a massage parlor in Shanghai, flipped Sho’s bleep bleep upwards to scrub… what needs to be scrubbed on that area. *dies* Then proceed to demonstrate the story to the audience and to the whole of Japan. *dies some more*

FAIL. Fail, I say. (And by that, I mean win.)

Yet I still love him.

ARASHI. Throwing their reputations out of the window since 1999.


BUT – more proof of this band’s awesomeness is the actual reason for the said TV appearance (no, they don’t just go around TV shows spouting hilarious stories).

Arashi is Japan’s Artist for 2008, with two of their singles capturing the #1 and #2 slots in the Oricon year end charts! truth/Kaze no mukou e and One Love are ranked #1 and #2, respectively, in terms of CD sales. They also clinched the #10 slot for Beautiful Days and #12 for Step and Go. You probably don’t have any idea what I’m talking about but let me tell you that THIS is a huge, HUGE accomplishment because no single artist has occupied the #1 and #2 slot in a single year in Japan’s music charts since 19 years ago!

WIN. Win, I say. (And by that, I mean massive, epic WIN.)

I love them all.

ARASHI. Breaking records and creating their own since 1999.

Not Enough!

I can’t believe my vacation is finally over! I’m not thrilled to be back at the office after living like a rock star for almost two weeks – you know, the sex, drugs and rock n roll kind of lifestyle. Except for the sex. And the drugs. And a bit of the rock n roll. It’s more like sleep, daydream and jpop.

As promised, my vacation was a slackfest – except it wasn’t the big slackfest I was hoping for. I slept a lot, even if I don’t want to. Did you know that watching TV in the afternoon was no longer as fun as it used to be? Even if there were TV shows and movies to watch, I just can’t shake off my sleepiness! It’s like all those times I refused to sleep in the afternoon as a kid has finally caught up with me!

Our PC went bonkers on me so my plan of downloading and watching Arashi shows was unceremoniously scrapped from my agenda. Perfect timing! Obviously, I was not able to blog as well. So, when I was not sleeping, I watched TV or read or played DS lite games.

Some of the things I did:

• Watched the first season of Life (and what a short first season it was!)
• Watched seasons 1, 2 and portion of 3 of Criminal Minds (developed a big crush on the nerdy Dr. Spencer Reid and the hot Special Agent Derek Morgan and wanted to work with a mentor like Jason Gideon. Will probably blog about this later on)
• Re-read Battle Royale
• Read Jasper Fforde’s The Fourth Bear
• Half-way through with Kate Mosse’ Sepulchre
• Peeked at a few scenes in Meteor Garden season 1 (what?)
• Re-watching season 3 of So You Think You Can Dance (I got seasons 3 and 4 from Quiapo yay! The cable is airing re-runs boo!)

I watched lots of shows on cable (NBA, Jeopardy, Survivor re-runs on Maxx, Step It Up and Dance (poor man’s SYTYCD), Room 401 and Wildboyz on MTV, Throwdown with Bobby Flay) and on local channels (Kahit Isang Saglit, Pilipinas Game KNB?, Pinoy Fear Factor, PBA, premiere of Fringe on CS9). If couch potato is an acceptable job, I would have a respectable career.

Whoever said that it’s a good idea to play Dementium: The Ward in the dead of the night should be locked in a room full of zombies. It’s not just I suck at first-person shooter games, the setting of the game was a bit scary, too. I think I’ll stick with Super Mario Bros., thank you very much.

My vacation was a bit uneventful, save for yesterday morning when I got locked in in our bathroom. No, I did not do anything stupid, it’s the lock itself, I tell you. It took my brother about 10 minutes before they could open the door – and yep, they did try kicking at the door like what they do in the movies. Epic fail.

Darn. Did I just blog about how boring my vacation was? And yet, it’s still not enough.

The Loss Of My Sanity

I contemplated for about 5 seconds whether this is the way I want to introduce Arashi in my blog but the decision is quite too easy. This youtube video is just too dorky and hilarious and beautiful to pass up!

One day I'm going to write a really nice and beautiful post about Arashi, but for now this video will suffice:

Maou... What the hell, just watch it!!!

Maou has completed the destruction of my soul. I'm still crying here, not teary-eyed mind you, but full blown bawling. I don't know if I can watch the last episode again, if last week was painful for me, this time the feeling is... whatever is greater than painful.

I won't discuss the last episode yet, so no spoilers here. I'm just glad I didn't watched Mawang or the whole experience would have been different for me.  I was worried when I saw that the episode was only 45 minutes long; I thought it might take more than that to wrap the whole series up. But I'm not complaining because it was a tight 45-minute episode and why should I complain when I've been crying the whole time?!!

I'm so going to miss the weekly camping out waiting for the raws and subs, the clawing at the screens for akusub to please please hurry up with the subs, the dread right before I watch a subbed episode not knowing what to expect, the elation I felt when I got more than what I expected, and then back to the unbearable anticipating for the next episode!

Congrats to Toma and Ohno! I never thought a jdrama would make me watch for the plot AND the eye candy, but Maou certainly did!

And now excuse me while I try to pick up the pieces of my heart.

Bookaholics Anonymous

Hi I’m Jela and I’m a bookaholic.



After barely surviving Powerbooks’ month-long book sale last August – barely because I still bought 2 books during the sale period (technically, I only got 1 book on sale since John Grisham’s The Appeal wasn’t part of the sale. Pfft.) – here comes National Bookstore’s own month-long book sale! Arrgh!

My trips to bookstores almost always end up in two scenarios: either 1) I will go out of the store some bucks poorer clutching books I had never planned on buying in the first place; or 2) I will go out of the store empty-handed but feeling like I lost a friend.

Lately scenario 2 keeps on happening and that’s only because I’ve done a lot of scenario 1 before! I have to exercise all kinds of restraint not to buy more books to add to my growing collection of books in various state of UNREAD – i.e. unfinished books whether I only manage to skim a few words or already halfway through before putting it down indefinitely; books still covered in plastic wrapping. As of last count, my unread books number to almost 30 and don’t that make you panic a bit?

There has to be a support group or something for people like me who likes to binge on books (I binge on other things as well but that’s another story). I totally could not rely on my friends because instead of helping me discipline myself, THEY JUST PRESSURE ME TO BUY MORE, JEN.

And because I’m a masochist who enjoys tormenting herself more, I went to National Bookstore earlier and managed to add more titles to my Books-I-so-want-like-NOW list before I hastily exited from the store:

From National Bookstore:

1. The Satanic Verses [Salman Rushdie]
2. Midnight Children [Salman Rushdie]
3. Rant [Chuck Palahniuk]
4. Snuff [Chuck Palahniuk]
5. Lisey’s Story [Stephen King]
6. Duma Key [Stephen King]
7. Airman [Eoin Colfer]
8. Final Warning (Maximum Ride series book 4) [James Patterson]
9. Thirteenth Tale [Diane Setterfield]
10. Atlas Shrugged [Ayn Rand]
11. The Race [Richard North Patterson]

Other Books On My List

1. Tales of Beedle The Bard [J.K. Rowling] (but Joy’s getting this for me! Woo hoo!)
2. Kafka On The Shore [Harumi Murakami]
3. Brisingr [Christopher Paolini]
4. Never Let Me Go [Kazuo Ishiguro]
5. The Inheritance of Loss [Kiran Desai]
6. On Chesil Beach [Ian McEwan]
7. Labyrinth [Kate Mosse]
8. Lullaby [Chuck Palahniuk]
9. Invisible Monsters [Chuck Palahniuk]
10. Dangerous Books For Boys [Hal Iggulden]
11. Stranded [Greil Marcus]
12. Housekeeping vs. The Dirt [Nick Hornby]

(Let’s not even count here the mangas I’m planning to collect…)

I just lost, like, 3 of my BFFs…

All Things Must Come To An End

Ouch. The pain of seeing hot guys cry:

My heart! My heart - it's been torn to pieces by the penultimate episode of Maou. How can something so painful be so beautiful?

Honestly, I'm scared to watch the last episode. BUT I DON'T WANT THIS SHOW TO END!

Maybe I'll refrain now from watching ongoing series. The past 10 weeks Maou just consumed me! Next time if I want to be a masochist I'll do it by watching a series in one sitting. Or, I'll just stop watching heavy jdramas and just stick to the cracstastic ones. Maybe I'll just stop watching jdramas altogether.

B-b-but... the lineup of next season's jdramas looks awesome! Why did I ever get into this addiction in the first place?!

Anyways - Maou. I regret peeking at the previews for the finale! I can't stop thinking about that scene! If I cried buckets over episode 10, for sure I'd be crying rivers come episode 11. But no, I'm not peeking at Mawang to see how it ended, oh no.

But I just might watch the raws unsubbed the minute I got hold of it.

* * *

My blog just achieved a new milestone - this is my 400th post! Yay!

I know I've talked so much about Maou in this blog, in my other blog, in my plurk. I hope you'll forgive me for rambling about my latest addiction that none of you can relate to! Kilala niyo naman ako, when something strikes my fancy, talagang all-out flailing, all-out obsession. I won't promise that I would stop talking about Maou the minute I watch the very last episode because, you know - withdrawal syndrome!

Maou Is The Evil's Name For Awesome

I'M DYING. I'm just dying. I'm dying over the awesome that is Maou and I'm loving every minute of it!

The following events happened in the first 14 minutes of episode 9:
- Souda got beaten up while Kasai stood in the sidelines
- Kasai told the goons to give him the pleasure of killing Souda and deciding to spare his life at the last minute
- Kasai ended his affair with Toma's sis-in-law
- Toma's BROTHER killed Souda! He even left evidence to frame Kasai.
- Ohno went to the crime scene and called Toma USING SOUDA'S PHONE without speaking to let him realize that Souda is in danger
- Finally! - the confrontation scene! Toma punches Ohno! Toma screams at Ohno to tell the truth! Ohno admits the truth while smirking that evil smirk! Toma and that tear drop! MAJOR EPIC WIN!

I swear - not even 24 can pack that much kick ass in one episode.

I was flailing all over the place over how fucking amazing this episode is, how totally brilliant and ruthless Ohno's scheme this time, how much I can feel Toma's anger and guilt and hopelessness and Shiori's pain! And Ohno's pain for causing Shiori's pain! This show is absolutely killing me!

You know, it's amazing how much I crave for new episodes, and how desperate and edgy I become even after getting that new episode! Then I realize that there are only two more episodes left and I just... I just can't begin to describe how torn I am between wanting to see the conclusion AND not wanting this show to end.

It's not even JUST the series that I'm raving about [the series ITSELF is so rave-worthy]. I like over-analyzing and this series is making me do that so much! The whole "line between good and evil" stuffs keeps messing with my head and this series got so much gray in it. Like, for this episode - the only decent guy in the series, when the means presented itself, was the only guy to have killed in cold blood. I can give more examples but this was just so glaring and unexpected and I LOVE IT.

I'm totally incoherent, am I not? I love this show so much.

Japan Is Still Driving Me Insane!

After spending three days complaining about the delayed soft subs for episode 8 of Maou, I have let the raw episode and the soft subs sit unwatched in the hard disk for two days now. Argh!

I just can't bring myself to watch this episode!
It has that big REVEAL!
My head's about to explode when I realized there are only 3 episodes left!

So now I'm holding back from watching this episode after days and days of impatiently waiting for it. What's wrong with me?!

How are you so good, Maou?

I don't know how anyone can say they've lived a meaningful if they haven't seen this series. Okay, that's an exaggeration but seriously? MUST. WATCH. Damn it, just watch this show!

I'm willing to burn the episodes in a CD if you're interested. But you have to wait for the series to end. I wouldn't want to put you through the agony of waiting every week for new episodes. On the contrary, I can't imagine how marathon-watching the series won't give anyone a heart attack. But that kind of heart attack? All goooood.

P.S.

Other ways in which Japan drove me insane:

I spent the first long weekend watching Japanese game shows or talk shows that Arashi guested in and each one is so freakin' hilarous! I was laughing so hard and so loud that my mom had to ask me what the hell I was watching. And I couldn't really tell her because how can one explain why she's watching a Japanese show without subtitle when she don't even speak that language and yet still find the whole thing funny?!

And then the next second, I was crying my eyes out while watching episode 7 of Maou.

But it's not my sanity I'm worried about. Last week my mom asked me IF SHE CAN WATCH what I was watching because she's curious about what's making me laugh like crazy.

My mom's about to find out that her only daughter is going bonkers.

Tuloy Na Nga Ba Talaga Ang LIGAYA?

Sana oo.

After reading this morning that Eheads' concert on August 30 was cancelled, I read two more blogs just now reposting Raimund's post in Sandwich's mailing list and Marcus' post in his blog that the reunion is pushing through! Ano ba talaga?! Wala pa din akong ticket!

The news was also posted here. I like the part about the tickets now being offered for sale. I think I'll have a better chance of scoring one! *crosses her fingers*

Damn, may pasok na naman bukas...

Domyouji Tsukasa: The Once And Future Dork

I've been delaying this entry for quite a long time. This is supposed to be the first entry in my brand spankin' new blog that's still not taking off because I just want it to be this perfectly organized blog (unlike this blog that is full of random). So now I decided the hell with it. I'm posting this imperfect rambling post now as a gift to myself because I had a fun time planning and writing this, even if no one will actually read it!

I can now with finality say that I love Hana Yori Dango better than Meteor Garden - and Domyouji Tsukasa is the biggest reason why. Sure, there are other guys who bring out the INCREDIBLY SHALLOW in me (including the oh so hot Dao Ming Si), but damnit Tsukasa sure tests the limits of my shallowness!

Domyouji isn't your typical leading man. He isn't even your typical anti-hero. But I love him, both the Meteor Garden reincarnation and ESPECIALLY the Hana Yori Dango character. Yes, he is arrogant, crazy and violent. But he's incredibly clueless, and he is this biggest dork that ever dorked wuss with a child-like heart. His combination of nastiness and naivete are made of AWESOME.

So I present to you proof of Domyouji's evilness and dorkiness, and why it has sank me deeper into the pits of fangirliness.


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