How Much Do You Need TeleSerye In Your Life?

Okay, I admit it. I have a tendency to torture myself. Whether it’s killing myself dancing Zumba, or dying watching TV. I’m a TV addict. You can bribe me to stay home all day by just leaving the TV on. Basically, I know how to entertain myself.

But in spirit of brainless fun, allow me to describe what I love and hate with what’s on TV every night.

What are the odds that when you are explaining the value of honesty to your son, telling him to avoid use of profane languages, and howling and crying won’t do him any good, that when you switch the TV on you’d be shocked by the name-calling, cursing, yelling between bida and contrabida even Tabasco has no match to their spicy words?

Apparently, the chances are pretty good.



First of, Channel 7, after Indio (btw this show’s use of old vernacular makes them sweet to ear, so this one can pass up) welcome Pahiram ng Sandali. Look s like the selling point of the story is "hell hath no fury than a woman scorned.." There are mildly amusing scenes here and there. And there is a mildly sexy, slightly charming flirtation scene between the still sexy but obviously old Lorna and well toned, young Dingdong. Dindong shows us why women still fall head over heels for him, now if only that’s a bit gross to imagine. All in all, this is teleserye. Anything can happen.



At about the same time, on channel 2 airs Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw. See the sexy Anne Curtis as Ruth who is so hell-bent on becoming a model in New York that she stages her own kidnapping to extort money from her father to finance her dream. In real life, of course, short girls like Ruth, the name of Anne’s character, don’t stand a chance even on the runways of New York, Cubao.

Sadly, this one offered very little over-the-top propositions in its first week that would make it worth buying a stored-value-ticket for. Nor did it hint that things will eventually get exciting. From the poster alone, we already know that Anne and her sister Roxanne, played by Kris Aquino, will both fall in love with the lone leading man, Robin Padilla—even if Roxanne pretends to be all nice and supportive of her rebellious sister’s pursuits in the beginning. Second, we already know that Robin and Tirso Cruz III have a past—and not the kind of past we’re interested in (like maybe Tirso was once Robin’s Mrs. Robinson). In the soap, Tirso, a former security guard, has something to do with the death of Robin’s father. Big deal.



If you stayed further late, prepare to watch Temptation of Wife, a Korean remake. Be enthralled by Heidi’s bangs. It is so straight and shiny, you wish you can grow one yourself. She is so sexy but cunning and schemy you also want to rip her apart. But wait, there’s Angeline-turned-Chantal. Even my 3 year old kid can guess she is the former. But this, again, is a teleserye. People come back from the dead in teleseryes. Your mother will turn out to be your daughter’s sister in teleseryes, and Sam Milby and Paulo Avelino will fight tooth, nail, abs, and dimples just to win Angeline Quinto’s heart. This is the reason people risk their lives every week night taking the MRT, where it is possible to die from getting squeezed to death or just from inhaling the aroma of the city’s commuting public: to make it home in time for an hour's worth of unbelievable.



Back to channel 2 again at around 10pm, watch Iza Calzado’s disobedient wig. Why on earth this one never move? Is she sick? And why is Andi Eigenmann head over heels mad at her? I don’t think Jake Cuenca's weird moustache is worth it.

In closing, you'll ask why everyone hates everyone? why on earth there's always a mistress in each story?

Probably it might be a good idea to skip watching for a week. Because it’s usually when you stop watching that the network bosses get nervous and order a bunch of rewrites (a botched effort at which is probably the reason for the early demise of A Beautiful Affair). So when you tune back in two weeks after, these teleseryes will start blowing your mind with a pile of incest twists, loads of zinger dialogue, and a bunch of people coming back from the dead. Who knows, maybe Anne Curtis will come back from New York a more interesting character, or taller, or as a fashion model very curiously resembling BB Gandanghari.

I’d might take the train for that any day.

Of Sunshine and Liebster Awards

As much of a tell-all person I have become since I started blogging, answering questions quite excite me now. And it doubly stimulates me if I will be the one to ask you. I remember when I was just starting blogging, I could have adjusted myself with silent reading, and get through the normal phenomena of checking stats, and agonizing over numbers of followers and counting the comments.

But then I realized blogging thrives in a give and take relationship. It has to be two-way. I realized that I might be denying you good people of hearing about who could bee the best literary genius this world could ever have (please don’t fire gun at me. We are all narcissistic people in some way, you know.) But really I am very thankful to you my readers--especially those of you have read this far.

*anaconda hugs to you all*



My special thanks to Buzz Lightyear for the Liebster award and Genskie for the Sunshine award. Sorry Genskie this is kinda late. But thanks nevertheless. I love the awards!

And to continue these awards to fly around the blogsphere, I am passing them both to these people who shed tears and blood to write their posts. They are:

1. Arvin of Chateau de Archievener 
2. Jon of JonDmur;
3. Kotz of Isip Ko Lang 
4. Pao of Life N Canvas 
5. Gracie of Gracie's Network 
6. Ellen Marie of The Impeccable Sophist 
7. Sarah of Not On My Own Anymore 
8. Direk Alecx of Blog-ags and Tsugugs
9. Diosa of Sense and Sensibility
10. Margj of Between You and Me

But wait! there’s rule to follow.

• Each person must list 11 things about themselves. 
• Answer the 11 questions that the tagger has set for you PLUS you MUST create 11 questions of your own for the 11 people you will nominate with this award. 
• Choose up to 11 bloggers linking them to your post. Go to their page and inform them of the nomination. Absolutely NO tags back. 
• Remember to ONLY tag bloggers with less than 200 followers. 

BTW, here are the questions I was obliged to answer:

1. How do you find time for blogging? I do it every other day. Begin writing on the first night and finish it off on the second night.
2. If you could travel back in time in a time machine what would be the top three times/places you'd visit? First, around 3 or 2 BC in Jerusalem to see Jesus Second, sometime 3000BC to AD313 to check Zeus and company and third,1884, year Jose Rizal wrote Noli Me Tangere.
3. What is the coolest thing you have ever built or constructed? A dried black pigeon perching on a branch. Feathers falling off. For biology class.
4. What is one historical story in your family that you are most proud of? Mother lives to tell how she witnessed the World War 2. She recounted digging a hole in the ground and came out only to get relief goods. I am proud of it. She witnessed what I only read from the book.
5.  Do you like to cook or bake? No to both. Tried making this no-baked cereal bars last christmas, but it turned out like a slob of Elmer’s glue.
6. Have you ever found any interesting old artifact or something antique ? None. I loathe them. They smell like old cabinet. 
7. Do you have any pets? None.  
8. Do you ever have a commonly recurring dream? None. My dreams are often random. 
9. Who would be your top 5 people from the past you would like to meet?
   1.My husband. I’ll tease him that we’ll end up together in the future.
   2.My ex. To plot a good revenge he’ll never forget.
   3.My father. Ask him why he had done the things he had done.
   4.Robby Rosa- the lead singer of Menudo. I thought I will be married to him.
   5.My self. To tell her to go ahead and leave worries and insecurities behind because you are amazing, and are going to live a good life.
    
10. You won a huge amount of money in a lottery, you give your family half of the money. The other half you have to give away. What would be your top 3 ways to dispose the money? 1.Give to local charities. 2.Donate to impoverished countries 3.Pay off the country’s loan to World Bank. 
11. Favorite movie?  Fireproof.

Of course, here's my own set of eleven questions you need to answer.

1. What side of the bed do you sleep on? 
2. Do you believe in ghosts? 
3. If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life what would it be? 
4. If you could only read one author until the end of time who would it be? 
5. Would you rather serve a week in prison or try and survive for a year alone in a jungle? 
6. How old are you? 
7. If you were on death row, what would your last meal be? 
8. What would you want to be written on your tombstone? 
9. If anyone in the room could be your slave for a day, who would it be and what would they have to do? 
10. What was the last thing you said to someone? 
11. If you had to choose between a millions bucks and being able to fly, which would you choose?

Let's Take Away Those Monday Blues

As I read from Francis Kong's blog (feel free to click the link found down below at the left side): the wishbone will never replace the backbone says Will Henry. But to live life with joy, always be conscious that you too have a funnybone. I say with the war happening in Algeria?, or the rob-out in Atimonan? or the Manong Driver who kept on spitting every 10 seconds and his saliva flew through the window all over you, yes you could use some humor.

Don’t grow tired of finding comedy even in littlest thing. After all life is what you make it. Don’t turn sour each day. Think young, there’s a big difference between laughing and being laughed at.

Here are people I found hilariously funny in their own genre.

1. Jessica Zafra- not a professional comedian, but a professional writer. She writes well and I like her for being both witty and funny.
   

   “If you're on a plane and the person in front of you starts slowly tilting to one side, it means he's letting out a fart. Take cover!”

   
   
   
2. Jon Santos- one of the few local comedians that I think deserves to be on this list. His impersonations of local celebrities and politicians are hilarious. Although he is not a "purist" stand-up comedian since he wears costumes, he is a complete performer and actually writes his own materials. 

“Pag una pa lang kayo nagkita, court of first instance ‘yon. ‘Pag nagandahan na kayo sa isa’t isa that is court of appeal. ‘Pag todo todong kayo na that is already the supreme court. Pero ‘pag sobra na kayong close, eh, ibang court na ‘yon, Victoria’s Court.”


3. Vice Ganda- a stand up gay comedian, once featured at Readers Digest Asia for being one of the best Filipino humorists. I find him funny, although offensive at times.
   
   Sumakay siya ng jeep na walang laman papuntang palengke)
   Vice: Manong bayad po.
   Manong1: Ilan ‘to?
   Vice: Ay manong dalawa yan, nakakahiya kasi sayo, kahit ako lang mag-isa
   sakay mo, dalawa na ibabayad ko,
   libre na kita kahit sayo ‘tong jeep.
   (Bababa na sya)
   Vice: Manong, para.
   Manong: Bababa ka na?
   Vice: Ay hindi manong, sasakay ako. Sasakay ako ulit, dun naman ako sa bubong, mas presko kasi dun.
   
   
   
4. Bob Ong- a skilful Pinoy writer, who like Jessica Zafra, both witty and smart in his writing style. Until now he hides in his pseudonym and has never appeared at any book launching, not even his own, nor on TV.

"Ang pag-ibig parang imburnal...nakakatakot mahulog... at kapag nahulog ka, it's either by accident or talagang tanga ka.."

The world is already full of bitter, boring, selfish, serious looking individuals.

So why not change it one joke at time?

Happy Birthday Friend!

Today, a friend celebrates her 39th birthday. Woohoo!!!

Now who is near mid-life crisis?

Anyway, I thought it would be nice to make a special tribute to her today in this blog. I've talked about her a few times here and I know I've always said she's amazing. Well, she is and I swear I'm not just biased. Of course, she's not perfect but no one is, anyway.

Allow me to share with you some of the reasons why I think my friend here is awesome.

1. She is a giver and never asks anything in return.
2. She lent me her white dress that I wore to a wedding, and stays generous even if she is now half way across the world. 
3. She is polite and never talked ill to anyone.
4. In one way she’s like a bra, always there to give me support. 
5. In another way a four-leaf clover, hard to find but lucky to have. 
6. And when we were still single and wandering about love and the boys, I almost hitched her to a married guy. But she never despised me. Yes readers, I am not normal some days.
7. Finally she is a friend because she knows me yet she still likes me.

"You're precioouuuuus..."

You're welcome friend!

Affectionate

Have you ever wanted to just tell someone everything you're feeling, but for some reason you know that you can't? May be because it’s weird? awkward? that your admission could potentially mess everything up? Well, how about boxing your thoughts in a sticker like these:



This post is brought to you by Weekword, and our word for today is AFFECTIONATE. For those of you who haven’t played before and like to know the basic rules, here goes: You have to share in any creative outlet you would like-painting, writing, poetry, lyrics, music, photos, collage, mixed media, drawing, verse, dialogue, videos, anything really-your interpretation of that week’s word on your blog.

Also, please visit my blog friend, Genskie of Genskie's Written Voices for the list of bloggers who joined Week word.

See, it's as simple as that. What do you think? Would anyone like to join?

Blogging Ideas 101: The Sky Was Storming But My Mind is Empty

For nearly three years that I blog, many times I wonder what to write next. I say with my scanty experience, I’ve discovered that there’s a whole world of topics from serious to most ridiculous, to write about and play around with.

However a writer’s story is never his own. It's owned by whatever tale has hijacked his mind. And because structured blogging makes my teeth itch, my topics are as scrambled as your morning eggs and tousled and twisted like my brain. And if anything, especially to those newbies who have accidentally found this blog, here’s what you could possibly plagiarized add in your future blogs. And like many of you, I am to write my best blog post yet. However, I am meaning to drop a line to some of these topics that will hopefully earn me huge royalties in case they are turn to books, movies, TV commercials, etc. etc.

My timeline is infinite and so don’t expect perfect timing as well as social relevance.

1. Grand Review of Fifty Shades of Grey.

I have not seen, touched, smelled, but I’ve totally heard about this book. All I knew of Fifty Shades is that it started out as Twilight fan fiction and it has plenty of graphic sex scenes. Of course, I have to figure out what really sells a story. In case of Fifty Shades, metaphors, love stories with naughty bits, and erotic terms Mills-and-Boons-style lines like: “Don’t worry,” he breathes, his eyes on mine. “You expand, too”… sell it like crazy. I read somewhere that the author of Fifty Shades of Grey earns over a million dollars every week in royalties. Not bad.

(Note: my friend is doing a review of this one. I hope I didn’t pre-empt her)

2. Start Hate Campaign for Apple, Mac, etc.

We're all halfway through 2012 (WHAT??) and this 20th century can really make 70’s babies like myself feel like cryogenically frozen. Really, where was I when all the Itouch, Iphone, Itab, Ipad my son is so learned about came to market? When all I do is Iwash, Icook, Iscrub, Iclean? I think these big giants should know that their pricey gadgets and gizmos don’t make me feel connected. If anything, they make me feel remote and isolated. That's because they are too pricey. I recently purchased Galaxy Samsung pocket. At barely 5 thousand pesos, I went crazy looking for wi-fi area to have internet on my phone. For the longest time that I see people around me touching, their fingers gliding the cell phone’s screen while I click my old Nokia keypad it is just so thirsting, I tell you. But Snoopy dance, my husband’s sister gave us her Iphone recently. Yes! ‘Love you Apps!

3. Write Blog Series that You Need to Read So You Don’t Die.

I do not like those blogs, books, that advise readers on things they have to read/watch/listen to/eat/see before they die. The titles alone are threatening and fascistic. And what do you get after all that effort? Oblivion. How dare you impose a deadline on us, we have no intention of dying. Ergo I intend to list life’s essentials that promise the opposite: Read them and get more life. Lots more life.

4. Plants Vs Zombies: A Tale of Neverending Love

Like the Twilight books, but with zombies this time as lead players. Why should vampires and werewolves have all the fun? What have the readers got against zombies? Sure, you’ll devour books in which zombies chase people and eat their faces, but you never see them as romantic objects. Although I have yet to see a female zombie to play Bela but a little make over maybe the Sunflower can pass for a female love interest.

The problem is we tend to stereotype. Why? Is it because their skin and hair are falling off and the only thing they can say is “Aaaargh”? But right there are the ingredients of a tragic romance.

Young lovers standing together against a world that doesn’t understand their feelings — check. Young lovers hunted by parties sworn to eat their brains — check. A sense of doom — may be stronger pea bullets or taller walnuts that will drift them apart— check. My son will so love this.

5. My Own Uncensored, Tell-All Autobiography

Including never-before-seen photos and all the hard facts I myself know nothing about. It’s my mother narrating the story. I can’t wait to read.

P.S.

I am invited to guest post at Between You and Me. This or another totally different post may appear. Spell awesome!

I Am Not Alone

How do you describe how it felt when you discovered that your blog, the cradle of all your dreams, wishes and life’s inanities, wasn’t original and realized that there are others Thinking Outloud, some differently written, some hyphenated, some all caps, some not, flying around in the cyberspace?

Yes, that was a terrible thought.

How do you talk about the crushing sadness upon knowing that their blogs are more interesting, bearing all the interesting articles, features, gadgets that you wish your own blog has? Or the envy that they have thousands of followers and you have barely ten?

You can’t. You can only wish to trade places.

How do you express the thud in your chest when you learn how they are well acknowledged by others by the number of ads, awards, likes and comments that were all over the walls, and realized you only have your very loyal friend and a few others to comment on yours.

It is hurtful.

But in between hurt and disappointment, I like to think that my very own, my precious, truly beloved Thinking Outloud is my little slice of heaven on the Internet inspite of it’s almost skippable entries. Through this I was able to spew all of my fantasies, self-discontents, frustrations, memories. So I want to thank you all followers, silent readers and commenters alike, thank you all so much for reading. You all make this one smashing adventure.

My own piece of heaven

In closing you might have noticed a theme of loaded daytime drama when my hormones are raging against me. Yes, friends. This is one of them.

Behind the Blog

I picked up the idea of writing blogs from the newspaper, and I thought maybe it's a good way to get even with your enemies, catch attention, earn extra money express yourself. Imagine you could actually talk about any of your issues? So you can go from your most serious story to your almost rubbish blog entry. Who cares anyway?.



So that's how I began- being a horrible blogger. I wasn't prepared to do everything to be successful. When I started, I thought it would be easy, but when I realized how big of a job it was, I sometimes feel frustrated and overwhelmed. Didn't I tell you I got lots of unfinished stories? Yeah, that's right. Two things I learned: it's time consuming, and mentally-exhausting. You can't afford to post trash stories all the time, right?


Since blogging is hard, I won't say it's not because that would not be true, ready to spend eternity developing it. With blogging comes a lot of time and good writing- and sadly writing is the the worst part. Promotion and web design aren't on my top list since I'm not really savy with computer programs so there isn't much animation, video's you can see in my blog site. So, half the words you write must be rethought, rearranged, replaced, or when worse comes to worst, removed. Words are present in blog posts, comments, tweets, and newsletters, and somehow, you have to generate those words, because your readers will be upset if you don't, your reputation will be ruined, your traffic will plummet, and everything good will turn bad.

Then again, in blogging one must remember: you write not to take over the world, to create a masterpiece or make life harder. Rather, one should strive to write well and most of all, to have fun. Although sometimes you feel like you're the only one reading it, poor traffic for your blog isn't the end of everything. It takes awhile before you can be the diva of the blogosphere. So when you feel like quitting? remember that blogging is for braniac but possibly melancholic individuals who talk to themselves those who believes that words can change, and therefore, should be shared, expressed and understood.

Half Full and Rising

Oh I’m so into this website, bloggers.com these days. Not only was I able to read wonderful blogs but also get connected with wonderful people who have the same interests, thoughts and probably passions in life. There is variety, more like a buffet table of everything you want, need to learn, great to know in blogging.

Thanks to a new friend, Andy Ko, for the suggestion. Please visit his blog, “Jec and the Beans Talk” and “e-Revenue”. You will not only get a grasp of his personal views but hear him singing too. Did I forget to tell he is Marco Sison- Hajji Alejandro- Anthony Castello rolled into one? I say, he sings ballad songs really well.

I also particularly like the blogs of Ning Li, owner of “The Other Side of Me”. Well worded, with lots of interesting pictures in it. One can readily relate with her positive views. Ready yourself to see God’s plan in hailing distance.

Nur’s latest post “ Vitamin from Bo” from his blog Perfect Day has quotes, verses, speech marks that can be very useful in daily living. Although they are not originally his; but he cared to collect them for the readers. I happened upon just a few of his blogs and I thought he writes very well. Very Pinoy. With those family vacation picture and other topics from Edsa, Angel Locsin, to Mall of Asia and Pres. Noynoy etc. etc. This man can talk about anything.

I guess that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I can only guess who I will bump into in the next days. Imagine the drive, motivation, wisdom you get from these people. And I hope to meet more of their kind.

“All the world is a laboratory to the inquiring mind.” ~Martin H. Fischer