Liszt: Gounod's Waltz from Faust

Earl Wild's fantastic rendition of Franz Liszt's piano transcription of Charles Gounod's Faust Waltz.

Clean and crisp execution and just the right dynamics and tempo. Bravo!

In Search of the Tom Yummiest

The best tom yum goong in Manila can be found in, according to preference:

(1) Krung Thai (Marikina) - serves the milder variety, very homey, located at the back of the Marikina Public Market; I was brought here by Hiep, a Vietnamese friend, and he swears by its authenticity.

2) Som's (Makati, near Rockwell) - cheapest, you dine al fresco in the neighborhood street; Tony and I just dropped by one evening and the soup exceeded our initial expectations. I wish it were a lot creamier though, the taste is almost there;

(3) Sukhothai (defunct) - have since disappeared, but the tom yum goong tasted similar to Som's but was creamier;

(4) Cafe Juanita (Pasig) - has a hint of bagoong (not the shrimp), OK but not very memorable; serves a "Filipinized" tom yum;

(5) Jajutak (Mall of Asia) - the spiciest goong, it explodes at the back of your throat; Judging from the intensity of the flavor, probably the most authentic one compared to the rest;

(6) People's Palace (Greenbelt 3) - the most expensive, and the most overrated; They serve the milder variety.

Didn't try those located inside hotels (i.e., Benjarong inside Dusit Hotel) as there is no way I can afford to eat there :(

Have yet to try Thai Pad along Pasong Tamo, they reportedly serve pretty good tom yum as well.

I wonder what happened to the Thai "carinderia" inside the UP International Center many, many years ago. My roommate Paul and I would sweat buckets with all the spicy food and the soup was all so good.

Equatorial

Ron steps out of the shower, feeling refreshed and smelling fragrant. He lingers in front of the mirror.

Big mistake.

"Hey Ron," his Safeguard konsensya slash doppelganger slash alter-ego calls out.

"Your waist size is approaching the circumference of the Equator, large enough for ships to circumnavigate the globe."

tsk tsk tsk

*Ron shakes his head, with a matching sigh*

How's that for starting the day!

Showbiz

On the same day that Jen's mom was buried, Jun launched his showbiz career.

Last Saturday, I watched the production of Starvebucks, a variety show produced by Jun's evangelical church. (He co-wrote, co-directed, co-everything-ed the show). It was a concoction of wit and high spirits, and judging from the enthusiastic response from the audience, a huge success. Comedy skits, a diva singing showdown, dancing and more dancing (this time interpretative) complemented by a smart video set-up that combined seamlessly with what's going on on stage, made for a highly entertaining treat. Did I mention that free coffee and pasta were also served?

The show opened with a really unbelievable Battle of the Brains showdown, a scoreless draw, between Harry Potter- yes, with the magic wand and a fake British accent- and uhm, Slumdog Millionaire. It was almost like a tribute to Tropang Trumpo.

But it was his monologue that showcased his thespic skills, giving life to three characters, about a ridiculous and twisted tale of a provinciano, Juancho, his lover Guada and a matron named Dona Purificacion, a love story taking place while collecting civet cat droppings to be made and brewed as alamid coffee. The fact that the story went off tangent most of the time, had no clear direction a la Seinfeld and delivered in get this, archaic, Balagtasan-quality Tagalog made it even more hilarious. I couldn't keep my jaw from dropping and hitting the floor upon hearing the words "irog," "karimlan," and "tarheta."

So we'll expect an even funnier production next year. Cheers!

Tiesa or Tisa

Jen's mom was finally laid to rest over the weekend. Jun and I visited the wake last week and last friday, I accompanied Señorita Valerie and bumped into La Capitana pequeña who was waiting for La Capitana nueva to take her to the wake. On the way back inside La Capitana nueva's car, we passed by the Bahay ng Tisa (or Casa de la Kastila, House of the Spaniard).

"Tisa?" exclaimed pequeña, this triggered a series of explanations regarding its origins from nueva and her dad who drove us from their house to Jen's.

Unfortunately, I opened my mouth, "You're probably thinking of "tiesa," I chided pequeña.

Yes, tiesa, the fruit, which had Eve offered it to Adam instead of apple, could have prevented the Fall of Man.

"Tiesa, the Bisaya of Tisa", contributed Señorita.

Before the conversation could descend into a complete nonsense and break into hysterical laughter, pequeña said it never occurred to her, not even once, that the house we just passed by could have been made of tiesa.

I Won the Lotto!

I did it! I hit the jackpot and dug pay dirt! I won the lotto!

Now that I have your attention, Why on earth would I win the lotto, it is like shooting for the moon. Are you kidding me? Last time I won anything was a raffle in grade school...a net bag full of string beans, squash, tomatoes, laundry soap. My foot's tapping to the beat of the Korean pop Nobody Nobody but chuuuu!

Before you mentally hit me with a metal object, what I'm really saying is that after living under a rock for quite some time, I have decided to join civilization. I have a facebook account. Add me up. Search for my name in Russian. Рональд Долотина.

An Afternoon at the Manila Ocean Park

First time I stepped inside the Manila Ocean Park. The place was packed on a week-end, very noisy as it was filled with screaming kids. The park is very similar to the Ocean Park in Singapore. It was OK, complete with mermaids and that shrimp-like fish that feeds on dead skin cells from your feet. I hope they bring in bigger and bigger fish, like barracudas. The sight of sting rays and what appears to be baby shark swimming overhead in the glass-encased oceanarium is dizzying.

Outside the Ocean Park, the sea water where the MOP is located is unfortunately, littered with garbage. It made for a stunning contrast. Also, the place is starting to resemble like a mall.

Can of Worms

Hatching a lie is easy. But making it sound and look credible is, as Gloria knows too well, the hard part.

When the NY Post gossip section came out with the item that Gloria and her large entourage spent US$20,000 at an expensive restaurant in New York, her Press Secretary tried to downplay the issue by claiming that the restaurant is "not really that posh," and that they only ordered a "set meal," and that it was a "working dinner." Problem is, the menu they ordered made the rounds in blogosphere, which included caviar, foie gras and US$500 wines (champagne). So you'd understand why Remonde's not very happy that he looks well, pretty damn stupid!

The Palace was quick to defend Arroyo, claiming the dinner was paid for by Imelda's nephew, Rep. Martin Romualdez, in celebration of the First Couple's wedding anniversary! Really! Was Rep. Romualdez's wife with him on the trip? If she were, what was she doing there and who paid for her trip? I shudder at the thought. There were more than sixty (60) of them in this junket. So the cost of the plane, plus hotel, allowances....God deliver us from evil!

Hard pressed to cover up his master, her lawyer Macalintal was spewing gibberish, pinning the blame on media for blowing the issue out of proportion. That's right, blame the messenger. Except that the Washington Post also came out with the story on the US$15,000 dinner Arroyo and her entourage had at a Washington D.C. steakhouse, dining on lobster, steaks and fine wines. I wonder who among the Congressmen had an anniversary this time. Macalintal, shut up lest you'd be embarassing yourself, more than your President. (UPDATE: Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez admitted that he paid for the steakhouse dinner. Except that earlier in an interview before the news broke out, he said he invited the Arroyos for a dinner but claimed they declined because they already have a previous engagement. Now he claims that dinner went through. Problem is, the same news item reports that a "lady" paid for the dinner from her bag containing wads of dollar bills.)

The saddest part is that her visit generated nary an interest in the US and the international media. Except for the dinner.

I think Gloria's lying habit is in her veins. Her Statement of Assets and Liabilities as reported by the PCIJ is littered with holes. Her lawyer tries to explain that she dabbles in stocks, which he claims, explains why her wealth suddently shot through the roof and onto the stratosphere. Through her lawyer, Arroyo did not provide the details of her stock portfolio, thinking that would be sufficient enough.

Problem is, they're again assuming that Filipinos are dumb. People like me have worked long enough in the stock market to know that she's again lying through her teeth. There's just no way she could have made all that wealth investing solely in the stock market (whether here or abroad) because, hello, the equities market has been free-falling for quite some time on account of the global economic downturn. A simple comparison with any professionally-managed money market fund will easily demonstrate this point. That's the reason why she won't disclose the details of her portfolio, because it will only open a can of worms and expose her truly for what she is, a liar.

An Appeal to Judy Ann Santos

For the love of this country and its future, I call on you to please do NOT endorse Jamby Madrigal for President next year. The only reason she made it to the Senate is because you, yes you Judy Ann, the next Vilma Santos, the Star of the Galaxy, the Celestial Artista, the Darling of the Masa (I know next to nothing about glowing adjectives attached to local artistas)...you get the drift!...campaigned for her.

I'm neither a member of your fans' club nor have I ever watched any of your movies, but that ma-amo face of yours resonates a lot with the masa (your movie premieres have plenty of screaming fans saying the same things over and over again,"Nakakakilig!" "The best talaga!" "Pang best actress"). It is this face that can launch, not only a thousand products, but millions of votes as well, which might propel a totally undeserving, immature socialite to the highest office in the country.

Do you really want this tantrum-prone, Senate brat to be our head of State? Even a half-wit can easily figure out that this damn, phony Senator is again seeking your endorsement.

Do this country a favor and say NO to her. She deserves Oblivion.

During Cory's funeral, street vendors selling yellow umbrellas reportedly handed out free yellow beaded bracelets....except that it contains a tag name and picture of Jamby Madrigal. The nerve! Campaigning during a funeral is the height of insensitivity. Jamby, you've just shot yourself in the foot. The earth's axis will have to shift first before you can ever become President!

(Picture filched from some blog, the blog owner grabbed it from facebook)

Back to Regular Programming

The waterworks are over, so it's time to get back to our humdrum existence. Meanwhile, other news items that got sidetracked the past few days include:

-that Lady Gaga is a hermaphrodite. (REALLY? Oo daw, she describes herself as "multiple gendered." You do the searching on google.) Did you know that Anderson Cooper reportedly said that he likes (Lady?) Gaga;

-Willie Revillame has been hacked to pieces yet again by netizens when he expressed dismay over the simultaneous live feed of Cory's funeral while he was trying to goad scantily-clad girls to shake their booty in his noon-time show; To make amends, he asked Rachell Anne Go to sing Magkaisa in his show dressed in yellow;

-Paula Abdul won't be judging the next American Idol. (Old news, I know.) That Kara di whatever is also annoying ("That's arteeestreeeh!", yeah, and you're corneeeeh).

Final Farewell

Since the past weekend, the country had been held in suspended animation over the death of Cory. When her remains were brought from La Salle Greenhills to Manila Cathedral, the convoy took five hours. Earlier today, it took a mind boggling eight-and-a-half (8 1/2) hours from the Manila Cathedral to her final resting place at the Manila Memorial Park beside Ninoy's. She made history once more.

Kris rose to the occasion and spoke a very touching, final farewell after the Requiem Mass.

Curiously, the weather seemed to have cooperated at the Manila Memorial Park: while it was raining cats and dogs over here, out there the rains stopped for the final rites.

Rest in Peace, Tita Cory. You've done well. The entire nation is forever grateful.

Turning Point

In a stunning turn of events, Bongbong and Imee Marcos paid their respects to Cory at the wake held at the Manila Cathedral. The fact that they were received graciously by the Aquinos means a lot. I'm sure Cory appreciates the gesture.

The decades-long rift between these families have shaped Philippine politics for the longest time. The main players, Ninoy, Marcos, and Cory are no longer around, and Imelda's getting frailer. Death indeed, is the great equalizer.

It must have been very difficult for the Marcoses to even muster the courage to do what they just did. You should've seen Imee. That gesture amounts to extending an olive branch in the spirit of sympathy, if reconciliation is not possible. Despite the fact that both families were on opposite sides of the fence, they all have their share of tragedies.

Ho-Hum

The last movie I saw inside a movie theatre was Ratatouille, so that was quite a while back. Anyway, I saw The Proposal starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds yesterday at Eastwood. (Btw, Eastwood isn't as crowded as the other malls yet, even on week-ends, and there's a brand-spanking new mall complex with mejo mamahaling restos).

Back to the movie. I didn't think it was that funny as the trailer wanted us to believe. It was a formulaic, cliche-laden chick flick: girl blackmails boy for visa purposes, both end up spending the weekend in frigging Alaska with boy's parents (curiously, none of the characters had an Alaskan accent like Sarah Palin's, and where's the snow, for crying out loud!), girl confesses at the altar and runs away, boy tries to stop plane so he can express his undying love.

There, I told you na the entire story. Big deal. But the audience consisting of the sosyal and fashionable crowd from around Green Meadows, Valle Verde, Blue Ridge and Corinthian Gardens were lapping it up (I'm from Proj 4, so there's the economic disparity), so what do I know anyway.

I did enjoy the high calorie festival consisting of Lamb Gyro at Cyma as well as Rum Raisin and Choco-something at Haagen Dazs na naman (just had this with Jun and Jen last week).

Btw, also yesterday, I bumped into Doc at the MRT. He said he and some teammates are definitely joining the full marathon in October ata and he is actually aiming to join Bald Runner's 100km Bataan Death March ultra marathon early next year. I told him he's aiming for Martyrdom.

Requiem to Tita Cory

Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.

Hostias et preces tibi, Domine,

Tu suscipe pro animabus illis,

quarum hodie memoriam facimus
fac eas, Domine, de morte transire ad vitam.
Quam olim Abrahae promisisti
et semini ejus.
Libera animas omnium fidelium defunctorum
de poenis iferni.
Fac eas, de morte transire ad vita.

Kyrie eleison,
Christe eleison,
Kyrie eleison.