doctor who is back!

yay!  new doctor who episodes are here, finally.  the first one's called "let's kill hitler" and picks up where it left off, it's a sci-fi soap actually. someone who was called something before now has a different name and character, someone's killer turns out to be someone's lover. someone's best friend turns out to be her mother, someone who died in one episode turns out to be alive after all.  see what i mean?  this episode belongs to alex kingston.

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Take me to the ballgame

© Joselito Briones

From Mountainhouse, we dropped by Kev K's apartment to bring him some pizza, then to back to San Lorenzo to pick up Kebbs and Noel. Today's itenerary: a baseball game.

© Joselito Briones

The match was between Oakland A's and Minnesota Twins, in Oakland Coliseum. Not much seemed to have happened. The more interesting aspect, of course, was the audience. Three kids sitting next to me made running commentaries on every player, every play, every past play that reminded them of the current play, cheered and booed both teams at the same time, sang with every song played, and called every food vendor that went past. And yes, at the end of the game, I found out that very few people go there to actually watch the game. It's more like an excuse to pig out on junk food. People didn't seem to mind bingeing on junk food, because unlike vegeing out at home and consuming the same huge amount of junk food and beer, their excuse here is that they're actually participating in active sport. Never mind that the participation is limited to cheering and jeering. And sitting on their collective asses, not too different from watching the game on TV at home. Even the parking lot was a big venue for barbecue parties. We had our own share of food: popcorns, hotdogs, nachos, etc.

The highlight of the game had to be the fireworks afterwards. We had to wait more than an hour after the very brief game to watch the fireworks, because the game ended way before it got dark.

Seeing the news on TV when we got back to San Lorenzo confirmed my feeling after the game, judging from the cheers of the crowd, that the local team won.


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Comically interwoven lives

© Joselito Briones

It's raining here today, so Eric and I decided to go see a show in Broadway, with Jane. Unfortunately, the shows we wanted to show weren't available on a discount at TKTS, so we decided to watch a movie instead (yes, we're THAT cheap). We saw Spiderman 3. It's as comic-y as anything can get, silly plot, silly acting, but very expensive execution and special effects. The sandman sfx was really good. We watched the movie in Astoria, in Queens (Steinway). After the movie, we went for a coffee (starbucks, photo above) and then dinner (pizza, quesadillas, mozzarella sticks, ribs, etc.) around the area from the cinema, spending about 4 hours just sitting and eating and chatting and laughing.


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Doppelgangers Anonymous

© Joselito Briones

I chanced upon Germany's version of America's Next Top Model on TV tonight, called what else but "Germany's Next Top Model (by Heidi Klum)". And what do you know? Heidi Klum is a lot more fierce in German! When she's dismissing someone in "Project Runway", in English, it seems so orchestrated, like her expression was designed specifically to project a certain meanness, like a good-looking version of Simon Cowell. In German though, it works really well. It's obvious she's in her element. And she really looks scary!

Anyway, the models. It's no surprise that übermodels from Germany are top-notch. Claudia Schiffer, anyone? This batch alone (now with only 5 left) looks like a Doppelgangers Anonymous gathering. Only, instead of the usual "uglier version of (state name of famous person here)", they actually look great. Face-wise, there are two that stand out. One is a cross-over between Scarlett Johansson (lips, breast, buck teeth with a slight gap and all, but without the fat!!! well ok, the other contestants have negative amount of fat, so this one still looks the most voluptuous among them) and Jacqueline Bisset (her name's Hana, and the downside is that she slumps a little), the other is a much younger, much more refined face version of Catherine Zeta Jones (her name's Fiona, she's got the most classy face among the contestants, she looks great in different styles, she needs to work on stabilizing her head while working the catwalk, and she gets all the drama in the series ). The one who got booted out tonight, Anja, is a younger, taller, thinner Linda Evangelista. Her big mistake was actually getting a hairstyle very much like Linda's. The comparison became much more obvious, and let's face it, there's no other Linda like Linda. Mandy is the typical blond-blue and a crossover between Bridget Fonda and Hilary Duff (no, I don't like her face), her nose is too big her mouth too low, and she is actually from Luxembourg. The two other contestants are Barbara, who's Julianne Moore-ish (okay, not really, but she's the only redhead that I can think of), and is obviously the one who carries herself best, and Anni (I don't know whom she looks like, I just know she's got bad skin).


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Is this mike on? (Jane's, after)

© Joselito Briones

After all of today's shopping, we met up in the evening with Eric and Jane, to have dinner at Krystal's Cafe also in Roosevelt Avenue (close to Renee's Kitchenette). It was easy to see that Eric and Jane enjoyed it more than our dinner from Cendrillon. I'd have enjoyed it more too, had it not for the karaoke thing that was ongoing when we arrived. Eric was shy to do a number himself, even as he boasts of always being the life of the party, the karaoke star, so he ended up bringing his magic phone to Jane's, where we all went back to after dinner, and sang his heart out there.

As promised, here's the "after" picture of Jane's living room. The mess is all mine and Mati's, of course. We didn't even have time to reconfigure the bed into a sofa to give Eric a proper performance space. I don't know what he's belting out when I took this photo, but yes, he could actually carry a tune.


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Confessions Revisited

© Joselito Briones

Right after confessing to me that he has designed a lighting set up in in the living room, which he proudly refers to as "beer garden look" (pertaining to the seedy places in the Philippines where people get drunk and gawk at strippers, not the European establishments dedicated to their beloved refreshment - photo above is of one of the decorations), and showing it to me, Wil and I watched the DVD of the confessions tour, which we saw live in Amsterdam late last year. Everything was enhanced tenfolds: the good parts looked so much better, the choreography, the movement of the dancers, facial expressions lost on the stage from where we sat. Even at the concert it was obvious she had a great videographer, and it showed even more so in the videos.

Unfortunately, the failures also became more visible. And interestingly enough the details of the manipulation of the audience are also now very much visible. Where she succeeded, it's amazing how much she can solicit from the audience, when she failed, it made me want to just click the fast forward button. One of the most interesting things in the extras is finding out that the awesome freerunner from the James Bond movie, Sebastien Foucan, was involved in the choreography, and Wil's favorite back-up dancer, Daniel "Cloud" Campos, whom he told me was part-Filipino, was also highlighted.


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My Dear Mr. Bond,

Promotional photo of "Casino Royale" from Sony Pictures

Damn good movie, this one. When's the last time you did "woaaahhhh!"'s and "holy crap!!!" in the movies? As with the last few Bond movies, the opening credits alone was worth the ticket money already. So cool!

Daniel Craig puts the character back to its original erhmm... character. One played to perfection by Sean Connery and softened to parody-status by Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan (OK, fine, Brosnan's still the best Bond, first few times he did it, if one takes into account the "fit" of the characterization with the times). Craig didn't really have any choice, with Hong Kong movies having redefined the adrenalin-level standard of action movies, he might as well have refused to make the movie if he was just gonna do another Brosnan film.

The chase alone, on feet, in the beginning, was enough to carry the whole film, action-wise. That guy Bond was chasing was just awesome! I actually wanted him to be able to get away from Bond.

I started getting bored somewhere in the middle, with the long poker game sequences, and wondered why they even bothered with it, before I remembered that the movie's title is "Casino Royale". Another downer was how everything was explained to the viewers... like "M" asking Bond if he knew why he's still alive, explaining how the girl (Eva Green) made sacrifices to make that possible. Like, hello? A five year old would've figured that out by himself (if he's allowed to watch the movie, I mean). And Bond professing his love to the girl??? Come on! I'd rather he act it than say it. Heath never said anything about his feeelings for Jake, did he?

The jokes are better too, more clever. Or maybe it's just Craig's delivery. His face is always so serious that when he delivers a punchline it's usually unexpected, unlike Brosnan from whom everybody expects jokes all the time. The best proof that Craig can really act are the scenes where he was being tortured, the worst when he was all mushy with Green. You'll never see anyone more uncomfortable with a smile.

I enjoyed the movie so much that only when I got back home did I realize upon thinking about the story, that it didn't have a good one.


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P.S. I've noticed that recently more and more people wanders into this correspondence of ours, looking for celebrity pics. I wish they'd come to look at the photos I've taken, but alas, it isn't so. Having said that, in case some random people do wander in here looking for Daniel Craig's naked photos, I thought I'll do the nice thing and direct them to right place. They can be found in this link. Bye, and thanks for dropping by.

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Back to Basics

© Joselito Briones

Back to Erlangen, and back to experimenting with digital pics. This one is taken in the Bamberg train station... I was trying to create an old-world, hand-colored character to it.

MTV: In constant rotation nowadays is Christina Aguilera's "Hurt", from the album "Back to Basics", really well made, the make up alone when she's sitting down crying is flawless and a pefect fit to the video, it must've cost a fortune. Also, among the top British MTV's dance videos is the one that Frieder produced, "Dance for Life". And I happened into MTV2's Barrio 19... wow! How could I have missed this show before?


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Too bad he didn't get there first

© Joselito Briones

Heard of the latest James Blunt clone? He's not as extreme, and will not make you cringe when he does the high notes. He's actually good, Paolo Nutini. Depending on what he sings, his voice sometimes veers towards a sound-alike of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, and often Ray Charles-ey. It's also obvious he can pretty much imitate Blunt's voice if he try. It's a good thing that he doesn't. His music can be sampled by downloading this week's free iTunes song "New Shoes" or from his own website "Loving You (Live)".


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P.S.
I've always thought of Blunt as the aural answer to hyperrealism (a visual style)... it's like now that there's so much out there, and the average attention span of an adult is shorter than a blink of an eye, it makes sense that one needed to be exaggeratedly emotional (or exaggerated anything) to be noticed.

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What kinda hellish comedy is that?

Publicity photo for "The Breakup"

Sunday night Roxy night again last night.

So yeah, so I got to see "The Break-Up", you know, the one withJennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. Jen looked gorgeous. She should give the movie's lighting guy a bonus.

Anyway, the movie's really funny, I liked it a lot, until of course, when, close to the end, it got too close to home. I mean, come on! They might as well have recorded our conversations in the apartment and used them verbatim. So not funny. Damn fools.


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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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The house by the lake

© Joselito Briones

Ahahahaha!!! What a laugh! Keanu Reeves as an architect. Sandra Bullock as a doctor. A dog as cupid. A mailbox as a time machine. A sorry exercise as a movie! I had so much fun I'm still laughing. Ahahahahaha!!!!

Yep. Been to Roxy again..


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P.S.
Photo is another one from the looong ago trip to Amsterdam.


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Amsterdam

© Joselito Briones

Found myself in a bus to Amsterdam. It's a new experience, long distance bus ride, but eventually it's just as any long distance mode of transportation. All I wanted was to get it over with and get to the destination. In a way it was more comfortable than flying, because one has the comfortable feeling of being closer to the ground, better than train because it stopped several times, and of course, compared to driving, one doesn't have to bother about finding one's way and the fatigue of driving itself, and the advantage of being able to sleep whenever one wants to. The downside, of course, is that it took a loooooooong time.

Will be seeing Wil there, and Gau and Tony after a very long time. I last saw Tony in the Philippines, about three years ago, and Gau I think when I left Hong Kong for California, six years ago. We all decided to meet up in Amsterdam this weekend, to see the Madonna "Confessions" tour.


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Old school and proud of it

© Joselito Briones

I think I'll make it a point from now on to see movies shunned by US viewers. I finally got to see "Superman Returns", it received a lukewarm reception in the U.S. box office, but I really liked it. It's the old school (old sKool is not old school enough) way of doing a superhero movie, the way a superman movie should be. Explorations of internal motivations and angst were kept to a minimum, and the focus was kept on larger-than-superlife conflicts. Good wins over evil, good guy gets really really pretty girl (by the heart, if not as a partner, the other good guy gets that part), and evil's still bald and gets himself a not-so-evil consort (the always entertaining Parker Posey). And it's also a good thing that I didn't pay attention to write-ups about the movie, otherwise I'd have read the spoiler plot already about the superkid.

The movie was shown in English in Roxy, in Nuremberg, and I'm really liking this small theather, because it's so small, not crowded (both times I was there, there were less than 10 people in the audience), and it's got a small-town appeal to it.

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A Day with the Girls

Promotional photo for "The Gilmore Girls"

I spent the whole day watching reruns of Gilmore Girls.





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We're gonna go see Madge!

image: http://madonna.com

Wilbur phoned with the good news, he got tickets for Madonna's Confessions Tour Concert! He managed to get four extra (don't even ask me how he did the trick) tickets. And guess where we're gonna see it? In Amsterdam. Woo hoo!!!


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Happy Meal

© Joselito Briones

Guess where we went today! Yes, that's right. Ikea. It's been so long since we were here last, I sooo miss it. I miss it so much (it's been a full day since we were here last, after all) that we decided to stay longer and have dinner there. Yep. that's right. Dinner at Ikea. I had meatballs with cranberry sauce and elk-shaped pasta with ketchup passing off as sauce. And Stephen King thought he knew all about misery.

The meal also came with a freebie!, a piece of wood that is its own sorry excuse for a child's toy. It's a wooden train car (photo, above) that has a magnet at the rear end so kids can collect and attach one to another. You know I'm too busy to write anything interesting to you (but then again, when did I ever?) when I'm writing about this kind of crap.

On a high note, the TV is connected again. Yes, folks! we're back in business. The first thing that we watched? Eurovision! (a.k.a. The Erosion of the European Vision), I liked Germany's entry because the song has a very simple happy melody. Then again, who wants happy when you can have Holloween in May? Oh well.


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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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