get your own ewan mcgregor now! cheap!

who knew he's for sale? and for cheap, supposedly.  but then what's cheap for them is probably still not affordable for me.  and anyway i don't think i'd want to own ewan. i mean he looks good and charming and all, but i wouldn't know what to feed him, really.  tho from the persona he projects onscreen he looks like a very good-natured low-maintenance guy, so maybe it isn't so bad. nah. i can't even keep cacti alive for a long time, much less an ewan.

the screen shot above was from an ad in sfgate.com.  clearly the advertiser just scans keywords in the article (the article was about a new ewan mcgregor movie) and tempts reader to buy it from its website for cheap.  stupid bot. 

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Jason Bourne

© Joselito Briones

This is another photo from the "Bourne Ultimatum" premiere in Leicester Square in London the other day. My guess is that one wouldn't think him a celebrity if one bumps into him somewhere, he looks like your everyday nice guy next door. He's constantly got that almost-shy constantly apologetic smile on his face. It's a credit to his acting and on-screen persona that he can carry both art films and action blockbusters.


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Star appeal

© Joselito Briones

I was in Leicester Square to buy tickets for a West End musical and I stumbled upon the premiere of "Bourne Ultimatum" in Odeon Theater. The stars of the movie were there, including some other celebrities, so I was just happy snapping away.

Photo above is of Julia Stiles, who's now been in all three Bourne movies. She's very beautiful in person, and seemed nice enough to fans. Oh and her hair, perfectly set.


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A family portrait

On top of my down-time literature is the Vanity Fair issue featuring the long awaited photo of Suri. It's been long rumored that Annie Leibovitz took photographs of her for this magazine, but for a while it seemed like it was just that, a rumor. I was actually surprised to see it upon tearing up the paper envelope containing this subscription issue. Thoughts, in order, were: "Oh. Suri". "I wonder how much it went for." and "So what happens to whereissuri.com now?" "Wow, Katie looks amazing in this photo". "Ms. Leibovitz did a great job." "Tom still looks creepy."


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Photo Finish

© Joselito Briones

I could've spent my last day in New York just relaxing and waiting for the time for me to go to the airport. Instead, I spent it literally running around in Manhattan with Eric, who decided to do a hooky today (I'm sure if he had known how today would turn out, he'd have gone to work instead).

I had two last things to take care of before leaving, to go to the bank to inquire about an erratic letter that I got from them, and to go to a notary public to get some documents sealed and faxed. An optional thing I was going to do was to take photos of 1 Astor Place, a project I worked on while working for Ismael Leyva Architects.

A friend, who shall remain anonymous due to his refusal to make public the fact that he's indulging my materialistic side, gave me a digital camera (WOO HOO!) last night for my forthcoming birthday, so I thought, what better way to break it in than to do the optional photo-taking in Astor Place. The memory card that came with the camera was too small though, so I decided to get a bigger one at J&R today. Before we left, I received an email from Mati with a couple of purchase requests for kids in Germany: a pair of trainers and a Knicks cap, with instructions as to where to get them. So a to-do list of 2 items within 2 blocks of where Eric lives became a 6-stop task all over the place. And we had a maximum of 2.5 hours to do everything.

First stop. The bank. Fast walk. Non-conclusive. I was advised to check the internet for answer. 10 minutes

Second stop. Fast walk. Notary public. Everything went fine. 15 minutes

Third stop. J&R. It took 40 minutes just to get there by subway, running to and from the station. Ended up buying a leather case and extra battery for the camera in addition to the memory card. 55 minutes

Fourth stop. Astor Place (Cooper Square). Subway. Missed the stop and ended up in Union Square because I was too busy installing the new card in the camera. Had to take another train back one stop. Running at this point. Click. Click. One photo above. 25 minutes

Fifth stop. Urban wear/shoe store in 34th Street, as specified in the email. Took the subway again. They don't have the shoes, nor the Knicks cap. The sales clerk looked at the photo of the trainers (I printed Mati's email) and looked at me incredulous, as if to say, "Why the hell would we sell such shoes?!?!?". I tried to defend myself by saying that the shoes are not for me, but he wouldn 't hear any of it. He spoke politely though and said they don't carry this brand. 15 minutes

Last stop. NBA store, 5th Avenue. Took the subway. Ran 3 blocks. Ran into Dermot Mulroney. Stared for about 5 seconds, but only because he was staring back, as if to say, "Well, either say you recognize me so just go ahead and ask for my autograph already, otherwise go on along and don't look at me all disappointed because I'm not shaven and my hair is not fixed and you can see all my gray hair and gray beard stubble". I did the latter. I looked back and saw him cover his head with a beanie. Store didn't have the shoes either, nor the Knicks cap. They had lots of Knicks cap, but not the one in the picture. "Must be exclusively an online product from our store", clerk said. 20 minutes

Grabbed a couple of sandwiches and drinks on the way to the subway to go back to Eric's. We were both running and panting and sweaty at this point. Subway took some time. When we got off the train we ate the sandwiches (either they were really good or we were really really hungry) while running to get back to his apartment. 25 minutes

Okay, so we weren't able to do everything in the alloted time, but I think it was still good. I had to hurry collecting all my stuff so I won't be late getting to the airport. I was in such a rush that I wasn't even able to thank Eric properly, or say goodbye properly. I expected him to just give up at this point and be glad to get rid of me, but, good friend that he is, he walked me to the train station.


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Cowgirls' night out tonight

© Joselito Briones

Jane and I went out tonight. She picked me up from Eric's. First stop was Cowgirl. We found a parking space close enough. As i already had dinner, I just ordered dessert. Brownie a la mode. Warmed up. Very good. And latte. Jane had chicken quesadilla and strawberry flavored frozen martini. Their nachos and beans dip was really good too, considering it's a free starter.

After dinner, we grabbed a couple of magazines and sat on a sidewalk bench nearby to see where we can go. While browsing through them on a bench on the street, Natalie Portman passed by, with two gay boys and a girl in tow. I guess now that she has a movie out, she has to keep a high profile. Her hair is now longer than in her movie "V" and she wore a headband. Btw, why are people giving so much hoopla over her allegedly naked photos in Vanity Fair Magazine, when she's not really showing anything?



We decided to go to Henrietta Hudson's. Only, they wouldn't let us in, because they said they only allow a guy in if he's accompanied by at least 2 girls. WTF??? Jane and I decided to go somewhere else, only we couldn't decide where, and it was possible most of the other bars she wants to go to will have the same door policy. We decided to split up. I left her at Ruby Fruit's, and I walked around.

I just walked around West Village and Greenwich Village. When I got tired of it I walked around the Meat Packing District. Great night to go strolling. The area is full of clubs with long lines of impossibly beautiful people outside waiting to get in. After an hour I went back to Ruby Fruit's. Turns out they don't have the same door policy, they even let me in without the cover charge. The place is nice and cosy, the crowd was very mixed. Had a beer there. After a while we decided to go somewhere else, so we drove a little and ended up at Cubby Hole. The crowd here was more mixed. More relaxed. Another beer.

After this, Jane suggested we go to Grand Central to get the info on trains going to Connecticut. The place was closed. This was 3:45am. Then she suggested we get some hot noodle soup at Republic, in Union Square. It was already closed when we got there. We went to Chinatown instead. Where else but Hop Kee's. We had chicken and wonton soup, deep friend won ton, and steamed dumplings. They're all basically the same. The place was yet again full of Filipinos. The crowd this early in the morning was young though. It was already 4:30am when we left.

It was already 5am when Jane dropped me in front of Eric's building.


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I guess all the waiting is over.

© Joselito Briones

I had to book a hotel in Garden City last night, as I had to be there at 7am, and the earliest LIRR train that goes there before that time leaves Jamaica at 5am. It meant I'd have had to take the subway at 4am, which meant I'd have had to wake up 3am the latest. So no go.

It's a crappy hotel, "Wingate Inn" and the receptionist was rude. She was talking to me, telling me what I should know about staying in the hotel, but all the time looking at and working on her computer. I called her to it and she apologized, but she obviously didn't mean it. I checked in at about 3pm. I didn't feel like going out so I just ordered in and just waited until it was late enough to go to bed. Watched the finale of "Project Runway".

Today, I woke up before 6am, showered, had breakfast downstairs, went up again to get my things, then checked out after arranging for shuttle service to the train station. There was already a line formed outside the USNIS building when I got there. I waited for a bit, but the exam itself was very easy and went quite fast. There was a bit of chit chat which I'm not sure if part of the exam, but after that the examiner told me that I passed and that I'll have to attend the oath taking ceremony on Saturday. But first I had to wait for the appointment. I waited 3 hours.

I went back to the hotel to get the shuttle service. When I got to the train station I missed the train, so I had to wait for about an hour.

Tonight Eric and I went to Union Square, then the east village. While walking around we saw a film crew shooting a scene for the TV show "Rescue Me" with Denis Leary. He looked a lot shorter in real life. The scene had one guy being kicked out of a restaurant, then a lot of running, the same guy followed by a group, a lot of shouting, and all. There was a long pause between takes, and we didn't want to wait too much, so we left after two tries.

We had dinner at "Sapporo East" restaurant. Didn't have to wait long. Food was good. Enjoyed "uni" (sea urchin sushi) the most.

The photo on the left is a billboard in Times Square advertising Bill Paxton´s new show "Big Love", capitalizing on his allegedly enormous thingy (fingers).


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Whatever happened to Barbra Streisand's moustache?

Stephen Fry, of "Wilde" fame, asked this question last night in his tv show "QI". First thing I thought of was, "Ok, what DID happen to Barbra Streisand's moustache?". It didn't occur to me to question, "what moustache?". No, she didn't sport a moustache in "Yentl".

The answer was, btw, that she ate it and then excreted it. And she's not alone. Turns out everybody's done it. A week before a child is born, it eats up a lot of its body hair, including moustache, together with other things (bits of intestines!) and becomes the baby's poo first time outside the womb. Bet you didn't know that. The image on the left is an artist's impression of what she would've looked like had she not done the eating and excreting thing to it.

So, you might ask, why Barbra Streisand? Later on in the show, Stephen Fry also mentioned the myth that gay guys can't whistle. Then he attempted to whistle a tune. Needless to say, no sound came out.


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The Case of the Vanishing Enema

© Joselito Briones

The line actually reads "The Real Barbary Enema", but when you're passing by and looking at the colors and objects, the words on the glass just disappear in the foreground. (See bottom photo, middle right area)


© Joselito Briones

The shop is in Monmouth street, not bad for celebrity sighting. One I ran into recently was Orlando Bloom.


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