sharon & kc at the shrine

last friday, nearly five thousand angelenos trooped to a single venue- and it's not at the staples!

the shrine held thousands of screaming sharonians and kcnians friday night as the megastar and her superstar-in-waiting daughter sang and entertained los angeles for more than two hours.

i took pictures to tell you the story... my review and related stories will come out later, watch for it...

congratulations tita jackie and KATZ entertainment!

the picture below will tell you how beautiful and gorgeous kc is!

and finally, as we were heading out the venue, guess who would we chance upon? "ate sha" herself!!! lol...

how ben stiller cured my insomnia

all week i struggled to write my review of ben stiller's "night at the museum".

i gave myself a friday deadline to post one. i didn't want the weekend to pass (when i should be writing about something else) without posting my review.

here is my problem: i missed the entire middle of the movie!

the movie starts with ben's character much wealthier than he was at the end of the first movie. he has patented a glow-in-the-dark flashlight and his product's runaway success pushed him away from his museum job.

during one of his scheduled regular visits to the museum, he learned that the place will be renovated and most of the "artifacts" and "model" displays will have to be retired at a federal storage, which happens to be located 5 stories under the famed smithsonian museum in the capital.

go figure how the movie goes after this point. i slept.

"night..." was the last of the four movies we saw last saturday. it could be that the day has finally wore off on me and i dozed or the movie itself lulled me into a sound slumber. i don't know. but if you are suffering from insomnia, i would suggest you catch a last screening of this movie and tell me if it does the same thing to you.

when i woke up, benjamin franklin was already involved in a fray that included the thinker, amelia earhart, napoleon bonaparte, and three cherubs voiced by the jonas brothers, among many others.

go watch the movie. don't wait for me to say that the movie is good or bad. it's good that i had a good one hour sleep while at the same time it was bad because i had to miss the middle part.

now on to other headlines this week...

i was asked why i am not commenting on ms. california's firing. i say, why should i? she's had her fifteen minutes already.

on david carradine's death... i will just pray for his soul. he deserves some respect and speculations on the nature of his passing is making him look bad.

oh, i almost forgot - and this is fresh... i hope tita mabe and mr. tan will forgive me if i give this bit of juicy tidbit some blogtime.

i received ten emails the other day containing lewd pictures of a filipino actress. the pictures were supposedly taken from the camera of a philippine senator's son. clue: take a city of hawaii and make it her first name. the senator's son is so obvious, you don't need to go to vicky belo to ask for a copy of hayden's videos. lol.

i can send copies to anyone who asks for them...

tonight is sharon and kc's concert at the shrine. will post pics immediately after the show.

my panatang makabayan

i was searching the net to get the full text of panatang makabayan (my country, the philippines' pledge of allegiance), and what i found surprised me: there is a new version! whoa...

i have been away from the philippines for a number of years now and i guess i just didn't watch the news the day the pledge was updated. or, probably, there was a sex scandal, or an election fraud to cover that day and it was never mentioned at all.

i am getting old. at 33, i feel old. and one thing i noticed, which, surely, is shared by not too few filipinos living away from their motherland is that every year i add a number to my age it seems like i feel more detached and more critical of the philippines - and i feel so bad for it... no one should ever turn their backs against their birthplace...

i don't want to populate this post with blames. that's too old and i don't think the blaming game will ever work - it will never.

i will not try to compile a list of remedies either that i think will help the philippines get over the decades-long slump that it's been sadly stuck to. no, i will not.

i love my philippines. it is not the most perfect place to live in. it is not the safest, not the cleanest, not the easiest place to live in but i lived there and survived it. what i am today is because of exactly those very things that make the philippines pale in comparison to other more "advanced" countries. i am still chasing my dreams but i don't think i did bad, so far. i don't think i have harmed anyone nor caused anyone pain. those unfortunate circumstances that surround my country now are the very same things that colored and influenced our culture since the beginning of my country's misery.

i will not preach, as promised. but in a country where morality is relative (which is actually good) and hypocrisy is likewise relative (which is the core of all evil) the philippines, my beloved, will just be the country of my birth. the country with a promise. and hopefully there's more...

june 12 is my philippines's independence day. independence from what, i don't know anymore...

from the net, here are the two versions of panatang makabayan...

Current version
Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas, aking Lupang Sinilangan.
Tahanan ng aking lahi, kinukupkop ako at tinutulungan
Upang maging malakas, masipag, at marangal.
Dahil mahal ko ang Pilipinas,
Diringgin ko ang payo ng aking mga magulang.
Susundin ko ang tuntunin ng paaralan,
Tutuparin ko ang tungkulin ng mamamayang makabayan;
Naglilingkod, nag-aaral,
at nagdarasal ng buong katapatan.
Iaalay ko ang aking buhay,
pangarap at pagsisikap sa bansang Pilipinas

Original version
Iniibig ko ang Pilipinas
Ito ang aking lupang sinilangan
Ito ang tahanan ng aking lahi
Ako'y kanyang kinukupkop at tinutulungan
Upang maging malakas, maligaya at kapakipakinabang
Bilang ganti, diringgin ko ang payo ng aking mga magulang
Susundin ko ang mga tuntunin ng aking paaralan
Tutuparin ko ang mga tungkulin ng isang mamamayang makabayan at masunurin sa batas
Paglilingkuran ko ang aking bayan nang walang pag-iimbot at ng buong katapatan
Sisikapin kong maging isang tunay na Pilipino sa isip, sa salita, at sa gawa