who are the most powerful people in the planet?

he is unstoppable!

in a list dominated by hollywood bigwigs, filipino prizefighter and current pound-for-pound king of boxing, manny pacquiao, landed on the "world's most powerful list" compiled by the influential forbes magazine.

pacman is #57 on the list and is considered more powerful than teen sensation jonas brothers - lol. but kidding aside, pacman's inclusion is another indication that the pride of general santos city is now a bona fide global celebrity. consider this, president obama is listed only at #48! way to go, pacman.

i wonder how the magazine comes up with their list - you know, what are the criteria considered, that stuff. why? because angelina jolie, the world's prettiest surrogate mom, is on the top of the list while perennial champ oprah is relegated to the #2 slot. what is most interesting is actually seeing the tabloid bait trio of jolie, brad pitt and jennifer aniston taking various slots in the top 10. hmmm. they need to sell copies, too - i guess. hahaha...

i wonder how pacman would react to his inclusion on the list when he is considered almost as equally powerful as tom cruise, but then, tom's inclusion is also surprising - am so mean... but, what i love most about the list is the magazine's recognition of the great meryl streep's power in the industry. yay! go meryl!

but then again, on this annual circulation booster exercise, how does forbes actually define "power"? i haven't read the magazine's full story, so if someone explain to me please. thank you.

and now am ready to have a power dinner with my friends ginny & sammi. am hungry, now that is a powerful urge - lol... stop me! haha

happy-go-lucky

finally, after two weeks of seemingly endless days, we finished all our reports and we made our deadline just in time for fedex to pick it up. i dropped our reports to the fedex box a few teeny weeny minutes before the 5pm pick-up time. whoa!

it was a mad dash from the 4th floor to the mailroom in the ground floor lobby. good thing LA did not shake while i was in the elevator, otherwise, i would have been stuck and our two month’s worth of overtime would have all but ended with a penalty for late-submission – and that would have been so bad, ouch.

i wonder how sally hawkin’s poppy would react in such a situation. i bet she would all be cheery and bright whilst waiting for her rescuers. nice!

what a nice segue, eh? or was i trying too hard? either way, it’s already done. – lol.

last night, i was home early. if 9pm is early to you, then we’ll get along fine. on my drive home, i was thinking what to do at home. i know my basic cable is practically dead now since all networks are already on hiatus for the summer and the french open has turned into a bore after rafa was eliminated in the 4th round. (wait! sharapova also lost today. what on earth is happening?)

i was thinking i’d call my newfound bud rowell and invite him to go to guppy tea house along south st. in cerritos (they close late at 2 in the morning and they serve really good pan-asian cuisine – it’s where tweeners hang-out savoring the resto’s signature shaved ice and mixed fruit dessert. oh yeah, they don’t serve alcohol – yes, you may smirk, haha), but i realized he would be working at the hospital. darn!

so, i decided to drop by my favorite video rental and took out this copy of mike leigh’s 2008 extra-bright comedy cleverly titled “happy-go-lucky”.

when i got to my place, i washed the dirty dishes (eewww) that’s been sitting on my sink for what, five days now? – i know it’s so terrible. am gonna change, promise! after i set my brown rice on the cooker, i went to cook my favorite lightly-fried salmon. thankfully, i had the fish brought down from the freezer to the cooler section last sunday so i didn’t have to defrost it anymore. whew, that saved me loads of time. yay.

by 1030pm, everything was ready. i turned my blu-ray on and popped in the dvd while my dinner was waiting on my mini-table (don’t have a full table as it won’t fit my apartment anymore – haha).

sally hawkins is a delight. she plays poppy, who is eternally cheerful and friendly. she dominates the movie from start to end. the movie is basically plotless. what it does is take us through poppy's life and how she reacts to things and people that would bring normal people (like me, like me!) into a violent breakdown. that's true.

her bike gets stolen, and what does she do? she just laughs it off and loudly cries why she wasn't even allowed to say goodbye and off she dancingly walks away.

poppy is a kindergarten teacher. she shares an apartment with her bestfriend zoe and spends all her time laughing off everything.

one day, she decides to enrol for driving lessons and she meets scott who is her complete opposite. scott, played wonderfully by eddie marsan, is grumpy and is the type who hates the world for no concrete reason but just hates the world. poppy tries to inject fun into her lessons but always gets foiled by scott's distant and unaffected demeanor. their unusual relationship would later force poppy to face one of her greatest tests.

watching the movie, the audience is forced to assess his or her own world views. do you want to face the world with an easy smile or to march on with detachment and contempt? in my case, i would prefer to be rather pleasant all the time but poppy's personality is something else. she gets insulted but never shows it. she reacts as if she's having the best conversation ever. she goes to flamenco classes even with a back pain because she promised a friend she would go with her.

she doesn't attempt to please anybody. she is just the way she is. she is genuinely pleasant - though, there are times she gets so irritating, too. mike leigh, who is known for writing his scripts only on the set has created an honest and quite relatable character and in sally hawkins she found one of the most brilliant and delightful actresses ever.

for this movie sally bagged best actress awards at the berlin film festival and the golden globes.

i actually had so much fun watching this movie that i forgot to tune in to nbc at 1145 to catch conan o'brien's debut as the tonight show host. aw... too bad.

but i had fun watching the movie, and you will, too - promise! :)

my life in ruins

nope. this is not about me, though mine is a bit debatable in that regard. lol.

actually, this post is about that movie. AP resident film critic christy lemire is one of my favorite film critics (along with roger ebert - of course! ew's lisa schwarzbaum & owen glieberman, and kenneth turan). her compositions are so fun to read that it is sometimes even better than watching the actual movie itself. best example is her recent review of nia vardalos' (of my big fat greek wedding fame) latest film set in, where else, but greece! :)

she gave the movie zero stars! read her review, it's fun.

****

Review: Title only clever part of `Ruins'
By Christy Lemire

AP Movie Critic 44 mins ago

LOS ANGELES – As we learn from "My Life in Ruins," the Greek word for mojo — or zest for life — is "kefi." Nia Vardalos' character has lost hers and needs to get it back.

Wonder what the Greek words are for corny, hackneyed and flat. Because those are all applicable, too.

Vardalos tries to recreate the unexpected magic that resulted from the 2002 sleeper smash "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which made her a star and earned her an Oscar nomination for her screenplay. Although she didn't write the script this time — that's the dubious work of former "Simpsons" writer and producer Mike Reiss — "My Life in Ruins" strives for the same sort of affectionately teasing ethnic humor. Instead, it feels like an uncomfortable parade of borscht belt gags and lame stereotypes.

Vardalos stars as Georgia, a Greek-American tour guide living an uptight life in Athens. She always gets stuck with the obnoxious tourists while her rival, the smarmy Nico (Alistair McGowan), gets the beautiful women and polite Canadians. And all the broad, overly familiar types are on display: the drunk Australians, the prissy Brits, the loud Americans, the saucy Spanish divorcees. There's even a self-important executive — from the International House of Pancakes — who's constantly talking on his cell phone.

These people are spectacularly unfunny, especially under the overly jaunty direction of Donald Petrie ("Miss Congeniality," "Just My Luck"), who can't even make the Greek scenery appealing enough to redeem this thing.

With her love of history, Georgia wants to share the glory of the country's ancient ruins and tell their stories; all her tacky travelers want to do is shop and eat ice cream. But this being a contrived romantic comedy, Georgia naturally finds love where she least expects it: right on her tour bus, with the long-haired, unkempt driver, who's been saddled with the unfortunate name of Poupi Kakas (Alexis Georgoulis).

Go ahead, say it out loud to yourself. Then try to contain the sidesplitting laughter.

Also among her tour group is Irv (Richard Deyfuss), a widower who brings his own hammy brand of comedy. But he also brings canned wisdom ("You're looking for obstacles rather than looking for magic," he advises Georgia) as well as some melodrama, as he experiences images of his deceased wife. She's played by Rita Wilson, an executive producer on the film who also helped shepherd "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" to the screen.

Basically, the whole structure here is episodic, with Georgia schlepping her group from one site to the next, trying to spark their interest, failing miserably, then planting them in some seedy hotel for the night. At some point, out of nowhere, she realizes she might be interested in this Poupi Kakas fellow after all, and poof! She lets her hair down, literally, and all of a sudden the tourists are on her side.

Vardalos never gets a chance to let her down-to-earth likability shine through: She's either stuffy or sappy, without much nuance in between. It's as if the woman from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," with all her relatable flaws and charms, has been wiped away with the Windex.

Running time: 96 minutes. Zero stars out of four.

*** life in ruins opens in theaters this friday. that is if you are still inclined to watch the movie. lol.