hah!

they apologized to my kathy!! the three judges said that when they watched back the taped, it wasn't bad at all! hmmp! see! i was right!

i think tonight, ryan grouped the two contestants who will battle until the end. my kathy vs. chris. although i want elliot to reach the final two, i'm not sure why not a lot of people vote for him. he is definitely better than my namesake the rocker.

'twas a busy day

VOTE FOR KATHERINE!!!

• went to nbi to get my fbi fingerprint form accomplished so i can send it. i'll have to go back to claim my nbi clearance though.
• i went to plm yesterday to get a transcript (again) and i was excited ma’am vitug gave me ma’am plaza’s email in the u.s. i was really happy to know she’s teaching again! highschool biology in fact in ca. i hope i can see her if my trip to san diego gets pushed through.
• enrolled in level 3 spanish, lola's still our teacher for a week. there were a few newcomers, im glad most of our original group from levels 1 & 2 are still there. i feel a little uncomfortable meeting new people always.
• then of course, i can't miss ai. i totally disagree with the judges comments last night for my kathy. my baby kathy sang whitney houston’s “i have nothing.” it wasn’t bad at all! maybe it sounded different in the studio but it certainly didn’t sound out of tune in tv. it wouldn’t help that she went first, but i think she won’t have to worry being in the bottom three. for me the bottom three this week: paris – they she sang the way we were, sorry, not just oversang it, i think it was awful; taylor – they were right, it was sooo karaoke, it was a bad song choice, a very common song like that; kellie – it is just simply… bye bye kellie. for me, it’s either kellie or paris who’s goin bye bye
• elliot. my man! you go dawg! hahaha great great great performance, this might catch on as your signature idol song. congratulations. chris also did good, i just think by the age of 40+ he won’t have any voice left at all. better take care of your throat, chris.
• i saw a movie about a teacher ron clark. matthew perry of friends played him and in the movie his teaching put his students to the top of the district. i only saw a little of the last few minutes of the movie. i want to see the entire movie. he wrote a book, “the essential 55.”
• oh btw, i just want to share that i'm recently enjoying watching "the o.c." my only trouble is that two cable channels are showing it simultaneously with different seasons. and since i've only just begun to watch it, i'm frantically switching channels trying to get everything hahahaha! it's a very good mixture of comedy and dramatic moments for me.

Happy Birthday Barbra

movie marathon

yesterday, i watched 7 movies! hehehe! now i have to apologize again to the movie emperor ^_^ i have to talk about these movies :

• origins of the da vinci code – well, it was a documentary. the truth of the matter is, i am not crazily amazed by what this documentary presents. pentacles in the landscape, aligned churches, and mountains, etc. with the abundance of mountains, i can fit any pattern i wanted to see. i can understand hidden codes in text and patterns in paintings because it’s man-made but i do not see god’s purpose for aligning some mountains in france and letting it be discovered by some people in my lifetime. not that i am saying that i understand god’s motives. i do not. but what i do understand is that if god had a message, he made it known. i believe in the bible. when he wanted something known he sent a messenger, he appeared himself if he had to. to me, this was entertaining but the content is crap.
• the family stone – i really felt for sarah jessica parker’s character. i felt crushed whenever something bad happened to her. everything that happened to her can really happen in one way or another in someone else’s life. embarrassing situations… been there. you have to watch this to understand J i’m glad the end was light though. i’m a sucker for good endings ^_^
• nanny mcphee - like the line “when you need me but don’t want me, i will stay. when you want me but don’t need me, i have to go..” great movie! the children are devils in the beginning. i don’t care if they are sad or frustrated by the death of their mother or if their father ignores them, but they don’t have to be so evil. well, they got what they deserved. emma thompson was great here!little manhattan – a cutsey movie. i really liked it. the musings of young love set on manhattan island and central park. lovely. hehehe it reminded me of… those were the days my friend… la la la nyahahaha
• bewitched – what can i say… i understood why this moviel... hmmm… how should i put it? …. flopped hahahaha! lucky will ferrel, got to kiss nicole kidman several times. i watched the trailer after the movie… and watching the minutes long trailer was better than watching the whole movie. the only redeeming factor was the great shirley mclaine ^_^
• flightplan – jodie foster’s character was crazy! hahaha! i’d understand why the captain ignored her, she did not approach the situation eloquently if i may use the term. she just went crazy all over the place, i understood the situation, whoever lost their children are really bound to go crazy, but it didn’t help at all. overall it was… fine.
• brokeback mountain – cinematography was great. actors were great. the sheep were great, even though most of them weren’t real. i understood the story as a whole, but i cannot understand heath ledger’s talking though. i’m not sure if he was mumbling or talking at any time, well except when he was shouting. jake gyllenhaal’s character was the one who needed more attention from men here, and as i understood it, he was killed by guys who maybe discovered he was gay. overall, it was a fine movie but i think ang lee extended it too much than it needed to be. it was just too damn long and it made it a drag to watch the last few scenes. now, i really want to see crash, a lot of people tell me , this is a really good movie. i have to see for myself so i can compare it to brokeback and assess whether the ranting of the author after they lost the oscar has basis.

My Week's Top Five - XVI

• inipit – marge’s dad introduced me to inipit / it’ll surely hike your blood glucose levels to oil prices high / i like the custard one that i tasted
• chocolate chip cookies – my mom bought a horde of chocochip cookies / and i think i devoured more than a dozen!
• assessment in special and inclusive education – im really starting to learn what the correct ways of assessing students are / and that testing is not assessment but only a part of it from this book / im realizing that test construction in medicine is a big piece of shit! / i hope that when time comes / our generation will be better equipped to pass on medicine to doctors of the future
• spanish – im liking every minute of it / i recently got a Spanish dictionary for my pocket pc so i can search faster / so my vocabulary is increasing a bit / i hope i can tackle with it even when classes start
• Comfort and joy – an unknown movie i chanced upon on HBO / it was just a nice heart warming movie / this businesswoman crashed her car on christmas eve and awakened to a new life / a wonderful new life with a man she never met and she had two wonderful children! / she was doing charity work and living a simple life / then she woke up in the crash and there was the man in her dream / saving her / her first line… “I’ve always loved you… always” nice! HAHAHA

I Love You Kathy McPhee!!!

MARRY ME KATHY McPHEE !!!

• I just finished watching tonight's episode. Kathy sang Someone to Watch Over Me. Sob... Sob... I'm sorry kathy I can't vote for you from here. Why!??? Why!???? MARRY ME!!!! WHAA!!! I can possibly jump on a couch!... Ten times if you wish for it.
• on a side note, why do you have to ruin elliott's performance simon!? he did a great job. i thought his performance was superlative and i don't understand simon's comment. i hope it's not bye bye time yet for my other idol.
• in my opinion, it's either kellie or ace's who should be goin' bye bye

spring break

it may be spring break for u.s. students but my classmates have just started the dreaded and tortuous clerkship. i'm waiting for their blog entries that will chronicle their suffering or (sige na nga) nice experiences ^_^ i've already read supersexy ivy's blog, and her assignment to the psychiatry ward became a mill for her famous quotable quotes hehehe. i recommend you go click on her blog and read a few.

this blogging thing's really great for these kind of things. now, more people get to vent their frustrations, share their experiences to people who value them and friends get updated of the latest tsismis on their friends or their crushes or whoever. hehehe

mmm, i think i haven't wrote about my latest thoughts on AI. well, i could've appreciated more if ace was removed instead of bucky, poor bucky, but it was not bound to last. elliot is strike two on the bottom three, i hope it does not continue this way. he is my favorite male contender and i hope he makes it into top three, or two. but of course i'm McPHEE all the way!!!

Descripción

one of our last assignments in level 2 spanish is to write a paragraph describing a person. what i'm saying here is pretty basic, i just thought i'd share what i did ^_^

Mi favorita actriz y cantante es Barbra Streisand. Es Americana-Judia de Nueva York pero ahora vive en Malibu, California. Tiene sesenta y tres años. Es un poco bajita, rubia, tiene el pelo liso y los ojos azules. Tiene la nariz grande, cuello largo, y las labios finos. Es muy inteligente y buena en negocios, acciones y valores. Tiene muchos sentido del humor también. A ella le gusta adornar su casa. Ella tiene muchas películas: comedias y musicales. Tiene sesenta mas o menos elepés tambien! Ahora, ella es la segunda de los diez primeros cantantes de Estados Unidos con más discos vendidos, y la segunda de la lista, después de Elvis Presley .

Ella tiene una voz muy bonita. Su voz es alta, muy alta y relajada. Algunas de mis favoritas canciones de Barbra son: Evergreen, Ordinary Miracles, With One More Look at You y On Holy Ground. Mi sueño es ver a ella en un concierto.

Holy Week 2006

• i went to marge's yesterday for our annual participation in accompanying their image in the good friday procession. it seems my two girls are very happy. well... we lost lots of story-updating time, but anyway, they wanted to share the moment with their boys.
• i was reading my classmates' (who are going into clerkship tomorrow) messages in our yahoo groups. and i honestly had trouble sleeping and had an upset stomach from just reading what they are about to do. i was like in the garden of gethsemane having agony with jesus OMG! i hope i'll have the strength and courage to face clerkship when my time comes..
• i hope the people coming back from resting will be more work-focused instead of bickering about politics and wanting to continuously create havoc.

swimming in the sky

we took a dip atop aina's condo-pool in vito cruz. thank you to meg and ate ara for slipping us in hahahaha! it's my first experience swimming at a rooftop swimming pool, and now i'm nagging my mom to buy a unit in the soon-to-be-built burgundy tower in forbes hehehe.

the image is my best effort to capture the makati skyline without a tripod ^_^ pretty lame huh...

found this somewhere

nice... i found this sometime ago in a bookstore, didn't know they issued a la naval stamp.

The New Trashy Streisand Bio

this is a fan's account of barbra's participation in al gore's 2000 fundraising vs. the new trashy unofficial streisand bio, 'the way she is.' the book is really full of shit,

I got the new Barbra bio today from Amazon.com. Very, very gossipy and there's really nothing "new" that we don't already know about Barbra. But, it has many, many lies in it. Especially the August 17th, 2000 concert for Al Gore - The Democratic Nomination Celebration Concert that Barbra participated in.

I was in Barbra's choir for that concert, I was there, and NONE of the "gossipy" things that are written about her is true!!!!! After reading it, I got so angry. I can't even begin to imagine what Barbra goes through each and every time this happens to her.

He writes........during a 6 hour rehearsal, she demanded that a small table be set up onstage, and that a pot of hot tea be placed on the table. But she hated the beige tablecloth, and the green one that replaced it. After two hours and a half-dozen tablecloths (blue, yellow, white, red and white checks), she finally settled on one in cranberry. NOT TRUE!!!

First off, our rehearsal with Barbra...........the choir and her band..........was not 6 hours, it was about 2 hours. She did not demand that a table be on stage, she asked for one and one was brought out. When haven't we seen a table on stage when Barbra sings?? She did go through several color choices for the table and chose one that she liked. That process didn't take 2 hours. It took, maybe 10 minutes. That's what you do at rehearsals.........you check your mic, you check your props, etc. That's the whole point of rehearsing!

He then writes................after her performance, Barbra ran into her dressing room and began wailing, "I looked TERRIBLE!" she said. "The lighting was awful! Why did the camera keep shooting me in profile! Goddammit! I look like @#%$!" she shot back, oblivious to the fact that the crowd was still roaring it's approval.

NOT TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First off, Barbra didn't have a dressing room. The Shrine Auditorium where the concert was, has many floors of dressing rooms - including very large ones with sitting areas, green rooms, etc. Barbra didn't have this. She had more of a changing area off-stage left. It was put together with draperies, wood and pipes holding it together. Certainly not something you would think that a person of Barbra's stature would have. She had an entire building of dressing rooms to choose from. She was happy with what was made for her.

When the concert was completely over and the curtain came down, Barbra stayed on stage and milled around with the political guests that were there..........Al and Tipper Gore, Joseph Lieberman and his wife and others. They were all talking and laughing and in a very, very good mood!

During the entire day at The Shrine, Barbra couldn't have been more professional! Originally after we, the choir were finished singing - an upstage black curtain was to have come down and we would have been done. Then she was going to bring Gore and Lieberman on stage. She said, "Don't have the choir go away. Have them on stage." Then she turned to us and said, "You don't want to leave, do you?" To which we all said, "NO!"

Barbra changed it to have us remain, and, we sang the chorus of "Happy Days" during her curtain calls. Gore and Lieberman would then be brought up on stage. We then would sing the chorus of "Simply The Best" - Gore's theme song! We rehearsed it a few times and it was great, just great!!!!

During the rehearsals, Barbra constantly said how great we all sounded and what a treat it was for her to be "backed up." In other words, all the weight of the evening wasn't on her shoulders. She commented that it was nice to perform in a much smaller venue.....comparing to The MGM Grand or Madison Square Garden.

When the concert started, we, the choir assembled behind the black curtain. I was lucky enough to be stage left and I could see Barbra in the wings, pacing before she went on. She was nervous. But, she was acting like any other person who's about to go out on stage. She was talking and laughing with the stage crew, checking her hair and makeup.....right there......not in a dressing room, not with a hundred assistants hovering over her.......just Barbra........a performer........about to perform!

During the show, when Barbra brought Gore on stage, he acknowledged how great the choir sang. Barbra acknowledged it again, as well. When the concert was over and the curtain came down, Barbra was all smiles, turned upstage, we made eye contact, I blew her a kiss and she thanked me!! A moment I will NEVER, NEVER forget!!!!

There's been so much that has been written about Barbra that is so not true. And, just because it's written, doesn't mean that it's true. That is the power of the written word.

I just wanted to share with you and your many Barbra fans who read this site, what really happened on that historic Thursday night of August 17th, 2000.

Thanks...

Neal

this was posted on craig's the barbra streisand forum. thank you so much neal for standing up for ms. streisand. celebrity life must really be a big shit, especially when so many bad things are being said about you. it just becomes so easy to be mean, the way they want you to be, so they'll prove they're right.

lz

Idol Update

hehehe, my feelings are coming true. altough, melissa got booted before lisa, they were on the bottom of my AI girl list. bye bye lisa, i admire she was very composed when she got eliminated. as for the other two on the bottom three, i CANNOT CANNOT believe my baby katherine would be put there, ace, nevermind he really should be kicked, pulling a showing little skin stunt wouldn't help you boy! i though katherine had the strongest performance of that evening and i wonder whether people laxed in their voting thinking she doesn't need help. vote people! vote!

My Week's Top Five - XV

did i skipped a week? oh yeah... ^_^ and when i'm supposed to have my final exam on tues, now i'm posting. hahaha!

i must've tortured you with my looong post on american idol didn't i? i hope you can hear the songs i'm referring to, they are just wonderful. it was sad to see melissa (AI) go, but someone had to. i just hope kellie won't get eliminated before chicken little gets eliminated. this reminds me, i don't know if sandy reads this blog, but i've talked to her and she watches american idol too.

i've moved on to module 2 level 1 in my spanish class, i'm really enjoying it. my teacher's a blast! love lola! lola's short for dolores in spain, as she shares with us... which brings us to the dolores on my favorite list... (hahaha segue)

1. sister act - dolores is whoopi goldberg's character's name. i love it when the sisters sing ^_^ i downloaded the songs from the soundtrack and keep on repeating them. salve regina, my guy (my god), and i will follow him.
2. century tuna spanish style - i talked about this with verle hahaha i love love love it, i eat it whenever i'm alone eating, which is a lot!
3. kalabasa with gata - mmm mmm mmm
4. dra. minerva calimag - if someone asked me who's my favorite pharma doctor-professor, you know the answer. (sip-sip)
5. my no bullshit reviewer - i seem to have tapped into the minds of my teachers, what i usually write down as the most probable questions do appear on the exam, well that's being a veteran brings about hahahaha!

lz

Barbra Week on AI - - a fantasy

here's babs during the agassi fundraising event last year around christmas. this is a 63 year old woman! vavavoom ^_^ (oh, btw, he and andre agassi were once... hehehe).

anyway, i always fantasize there would be a barbra week on american idol. i doubt she'll ever do it. well but i think if she does, she'll be a really good teacher to them, and her experience as a director will also help them on their stage performance. of course they should start practicing up hahahaha! if i were to select a song for the top 12, it would be the following :

• elliot - my favorite guy so far. he has great control, and as i observe, he hasn't even given 100% of his full vocal potential. my song selection for him, The Music that Makes Me Dance. this song is from Funny Girl originally, but bab's only recorded it for his A Love Like Ours album. i think the lyrics can easily be changed to a male version. i think this will really showcase elliot's talents. go soar elliot!
• chris - great performer. i like the quality of his voice. he's second guy on my list and i choose The Woman in the Moon. the lyrics can easily be modified so it will work. this is one of bab's rock songs from A Star is Born. this will really bring the house down! woohoo!
• taylor - his third on my list. he has a great great voice but i don't like his imitating the genius ray charles. i think he can't avoid doing it anymore because he's been used to doing it hehehe. if he wins, he can't act like that! i choose Sweet Inspiration/Where You Lead. this is a bluesy type of song and it will rock with his interpretation.
• ace - this guy can sing, but i think he was selected because he could be a model hehehe. if he looked like shit he wouldn't be considered im sure. now... now... i'm turning into simon hehehe my song for him. well... i'm not sure why i'm giving him one of my most favorite barbra songs but i think it is the best suited for his voice and vocal technique... Evergreen. composed by barbra herself. i'm sure he won't kill it but i do hope he brings justice to it. hell... i'll sing it let's see who's better hahaha!
• bucky - with a country southern voice. hmm... nice attitude. i hope he doesn't get eliminated before kevin does hahahaha! for you the new Stranger in a Strange Land with modified lyrics will be a great showcase for his voice.
• kevin - kevin... kevin... acceptable voice. i'm sure he's a nice kid, but i don't like the attitude. riding on the teasing for a while is good but don't push it kid. calling yourself a sex-symbol when you look like chicken little will do you no good hehehe! it's bye bye time soon for you! but i give you a great song: Somewhere. i think he can pull this off with the right arrangement. it will be great... a difficult song that will make him... or break him
• katherine - my favorite girl. looks and talent smashed all together. beautiful... just beautiful... and! she sang a barbra song two weeks in a row! her mom's influence i presume. for her the beautiful Ordinary Miracles. i don't have any doubt she'd be able to do it.
• mandissa - great great great talent. if this girl can start loosing weight, for her own sake please... i'm sure she'll be a great star. i hope she follow patti austin's example. for her is one of my favorite songs With One More Look at You from A Star is Born. this song is bursting with emotion, it'll showcase her soaring voice.
• paris - great performer, wonderful voice. i always look forward to hearing how she'll sing the song, no hesitations whatsoever when performing. for her Lover Come Back to Me will be p-e-r-f-e-c-t.
• kellie - this is a real nice girl hehehe quite naive, but she can sing. i hope she stays long enough so someone will get her to make an album on her own, but i really don't think she's the next american idol... well that depends on america. for her, i pick Stoney End. a great song to perform and won't be too hard hahaha!
• melissa - i think she still hasn't realized she's on american idol. hmm... you have to snap out of it! i think she just needs to be taught more because her voice has potential but is not yet baked enough in the oven. but i give her one of bab's signature song Happy Days are Here Again.
• lisa - nice voice but what i don't like is her attitude. i don't know why... she seems like a nice girl but i feel she's a little plastic. i hope i'm wrong though... don't know why but i just don't like her reactions on comments by the judges whether it be good or bad. it's just like, get it over with i really don't care what you say to me... anyway... for her another signature song: The Way We Were. this is a song for her type of voice and vocal technique

just to end i'd just like to say a few things about the judges... paula, OMG, paula is like on drugs or drunk everytime, her comments are dreamy... her eyes are dreamy... well... i hope she just doesn't throw her clothes off during the live show. randy, well you go dawg! hahaha! i like him. but of course the one i like best among the judges is simon. he's non-patronizing, non-apologetic, and very direct. and although sometimes he crosses the line to being really rude, reality checks for the contestants are always good.

Fearless

there are a few movies that i would watch in the bigscreen. and it would be a more rare occassion that i would want to watch alone. but i'm a sucker for for kung-fu movies hahahaha! i just can't pass them up, so i'll play movie emperor this week.

great movie, and although the true-story is said to be not very accurate, i really don't care. there are fight scenes from the beginning to the end. the fighting was beautiful. all sorts of weapons will be seen, and i also liked that his last oponent was really honorable. this and also jet li's 'hero' are on my dvd wish-list.

lz

My Week's Top Five - XIV

i'm a contented man. this week, i finished my first level of spanish and i passed my pharmacology exam. i'm disappointed i've been lax on my review for my certification, but anyway, i'll just have to make-up then. i've talked with tina, heard few more things about the ins and outs of her life. and... i really am very calm (except for a throbing headache yesterday) and i don't know... just contented with everything (i hope i just don't die suddenly hahaha). hmm... this reminds me i should post how i want my wake (or how i don't want my wake to look). nice idea... anyway... on to my favorites for this week:

1. monay from i don't know where - i think this is my second post about this monay hehehe maybe it has metampethamine hahahaha! nice...
2. robbie williams concert at knebworth - what kind of singer wouldn't cry at this kind of response from the people. really... you couldn't see how many people turned out, it was great, i wish i could've been there
3. i don't break easily - a calm song from babs really nice...
4. A2 - i miss eating out with you guys, where are we going this summer!?
5. myth busters - more and more, this is show is getting really interesting...

what'll really be great?? - - if someone posted a comment hmmp...

windows vista

microsoft will be releasing the new windows operating system called vista. i hear there are a lot of new improvements. but of course the first months or year will be bugged up to heaven so like what i did with xp, i'll wait it out first until the system has been tested by the public.

read why windows vista won't suck...

just one lifetime

for tina, who's a smothering paste of love right now, sticky.... hahaha

at laast my heart is ready.

This time I can believe

That love has truly found me.

How sweetly love surrounds me.

You're like a glimpse of heaven,

A blessing I've received.

I'll give you my tomorrows.

But even now I can see...

Just one lifetime

Won't be enough time for us.

We need more

For all this love.

Just one lifetime

Can't be enough time for us.

We need more

For all this love.

What you have given to me

Is better but a dream.

There's no need for pretending

You're my happy ending.

So I will hold you closer

With all the love in me

And wish we had forever

For even now I can see...

Just one lifetime

Won't be enough time for us.

We need more

For all this love.

Just one lifetime

Can never be enough time.

We need more

For all this love.

I prayed my heart would lead me

To find a love somewhere.

It's taken me a lifetime

To find you waiting for me there.

Just one lifetime

Won't be enough time for us.

We need more

For all this love.

Just one lifetime

And all that's waiting for us

We want more

For all...For all this love.

- - just one lifetime by barbra streisand

appears on 'a love like ours'

written by: melissa manchester & tom snow

the country in turmoil

what can i say... i feel sick... literally... and this trouble broiling in this i don't know what kind of country is giving me all kinds of aches all over. sigh...

i must admit, i don't know a lot about politics. i don't watch local tv for allot'a reasons. the lost compelling is the headache it get listening to all the bad stuff that's happening. what i do know is that an armed conflict is never right whatever the reasons may be. it always will be a last choice for me if not entirely unavoidable. what's really getting on my nerves though, is people who are pretending to shun the idea of conflict but otherwise suddenly appear out of nowhere and douse the fire with fuel... hypocrites...

now, i don't claim sanctity but hey, neither do i deprive people of land do i? who among these politicians do you think should replace the president should she resign? who amongst those who say she should step down should have her place? she can always call a snap election and not run on it... but think about it, would that solve the crises of the country? who can? when all the while, every few months or so, with whoever is in malacañan, certain people will always feel abandoned, certain people will always claim the government abuse them, and clearly certain people will continue to use other people... people who need people, may not be the luckiest of people here. pfft...

i don't see the present president as a perfect president, and don't tell me i am a blind follower of a worthless leader. from my point of view, what is happening now is a result of our collective fault. people who lax their vigilance during the election process, and then say the process was manipulated by politicians to their advantage. people who bribe and those who accept bribes. people who forget how our forbearers sacrificed everything to give us the freedom that we apparently don't deserve. we forget... we were known for our unbreakable principles and integrity.

almost a three quarters of a century after we asked the americans to give us our freedom, we should reflect how far have we progressed from then... have we? or have we succumbed to the natural course of increasing disorder through time?

god be with us all