Friday, December 28, 2007

I Have Perfect Memory

Over the Holidays, I discovered that little ol' forgetful, no sense of direction me actually has perfect memory and a keen sense of direction -- only when it comes to food. After just one survey of a buffet that I've never seen before, I can tell you how to get to which station and which food is located where. So I may be useless on the road, but I'll never get lost in a buffet!

Happy New Year! :D

Steve Hewitt Leaves Placebo

Steve Hewitt, 1/3 of my most favorite band in the world, has left Placebo.

I got this from their official website:

PLACEBO PART COMPANY WITH DRUMMER STEVE HEWITT

Placebo have parted company with drummer of 11 years, Steve Hewitt, due to personal and musical differences.

Brian Molko commented "Being in a band is very much like being in a marriage, and in couples - in this case a triple - people can grow apart over the years. To say that you don't love your partner anymore is inaccurate, considering all that you've been through and achieved together. There simply comes a point when you realize that you want different things from your relationship and that you can no longer live under the same roof, so to speak."

The split is amicable and a sad time for both parties. Steve Hewitt replaced Robert Schultzberg behind the drum kit in 1996 whilst the band were promoting Placebo’s eponymous debut album and went on to record the following 4 studio albums ‘Without You I’m Nothing’, ‘Black Market Music’, ‘Sleeping With Ghosts’ and most recently ‘Meds’.

Placebo have just returned from the USA where they were part of the high profile ‘Projekt Revolution Tour’ alongside Linkin Park and My Chemical Romance. The band are now taking a well earned break.

Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal will begin work on Placebo’s 6th studio album next Spring and are in no rush to find an immediate replacement for Steve.

I can’t take it anymore. 2007 has not been the best year for celebrities. First, Britney hits rock bottom so bad that even ex-hubby Kevin Federline looks like a picture of model parenthood next to her. She also makes Paris Hilton look like a nun. Ick. Then the two Coreys split up. Then Howie Dorough gets married. Then this. Then this morning, I learned this morning that Benazir Bhutto had been killed by a suicide bomber and I couldn’t cry because my tears have all been used up. Damn that suicide bomber! He should be killed!

Open Doors

Am supporting this organization called Open Doors, which seeks to bring the Word of God to countries where the Word of God is illegal. We’re talking North Korea, the Middle East, parts of Africa, etc., where being a Christian or spreading the faith could get you humiliated at the very least, or at worst, dead.

I have many reasons for supporting this organization:
1. I believe you should be free to choose. Your clothes, your hairstyle, your religion. Whatever. As long as you choose it for yourself.

2. I’ve always wanted to be part of a social force, I’m just too lazy to do so. I supported Greenpeace and PETA in high school when they weren’t in the Philippines yet but now that they’re here and there’s an actual threat of having to – gasp – volunteer, I think I’ll support another organization that needs the only thing that I can give – money.

3. A Christian organization that subverts the status quo? Count me in! I’m earning brownie points with God while breaking the law! That’s two birds with one stone! How cool is that? I just need to remember not to travel to any of these countries lest they’ve got my name on some wanted list. Or if I do, I’ll remember to pack a fake nose and mustache.

So, if you want to ease your Christian conscience and feed your rebellious side at the same time, you know which organization can help you do that.

Google their site and check them out (Yes, I'm too lazy to post it here)!

Message From God

Last week was my grand uncle’s 85th birthday celebration, which I enjoyed more than I thought I would, partly because I got to see one of my favorite cousins again, but also partly because I met someone who was really excited to be talking to a writer. This started when I struck up a conversation with the girl next to me, who turned out to be the wife of a college friend (small world!). Her mother, who was accompanying her, joined in the conversation. When she found out I was a writer, she was all, “Oh, I admire writers! Tell me about how you write!” and stuff.

The reaction I’m used to getting from older Chinese people (especially if I’m related to them) is “Oh, so you’re a writer? How do you make money?” Then they’ll proceed to chat up my sister, who is a doctor, because, well, doctors are more useful (how many lives have I saved lately?) and because doctors have the potential to make pots of money.

Meeting an older Chinese person who will ignore the doctor in favor of the writer is nothing short of a miracle. I think God sat her and her daughter beside me to make a point. Two points. One is it always pays to make friends (the two were sort of being ignored before we got to the table) because you never know what surprises that might bring, and two, writing is a good thing.

Of course, Cloud Nine couldn’t last forever. As soon as we exited the hotel, we met a friend of my mom’s who asked her what her children did. “My eldest is a writer,” my mother said. Her friend gave me a blank look. “My other daughter is a doctor,” she continues. “Oh, how wonderful!” her friend says, and proceeds to praise my sister to high heaven. Ah, well. Back to earth.

Speaking of doctors, my sister was telling me about how people’s IQ’s go down once they realize that they’re in front of a doctor. Just a few days ago, she had a patient who rushed her child to the hospital. This very scared mother asked my sister, “Doc, bakit dumudugo labi ng anak ko? Kinakagat niya.” (Doc, why is my child’s lips bleeding? She’s biting it.) My sister wanted to scream “DUH!” Another incident was when a mother asked her, “Doc, bakit madilaw ihi ng anak ko?” (Doc, why is my kid’s pee yellow?). I’m so glad I’m not a doctor.

Howie D is Single No More

Charles has been asking why I’ve been absent from the web lately. For all of you who have been wondering the same thing, this is why:

Howie Dorough just got married, and I’m still trying to collect myself.

It all started when I got this in the mail:

The original article can be found on SFGate.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Saturday, December 8, 2007 (AP) Backstreet Boy Howie D Weds in Florida (12-08) 18:00 PST Orlando, Fla. (AP) -- Backstreet Boy Howie Dorough is single no more.

He wed his longtime girlfriend Saturday in his hometown, the band's attorney confirmed. Fellow Backstreet Boys bandmates were in attendance as Dorough, 34, married Leigh Boniello at St. James Cathedral in a traditional Catholic ceremony, People and OK! magazine reported on their Web sites.

"The wedding took place as planned and all went well," attorney Jason L. Turner said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Dorough, also known as Howie D, proposed to his girlfriend of six years last New Year's.

"She wasn't expecting it, and I was quite nervous — more nervous about proposing to her in front of 40 family and friends than about performing in front of 40,000 people onstage," Dorough told People earlier this year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

So far, I’ve passed through anger to hurt to denial to almost throwing myself in front of passing traffic to, finally, acceptance.

I guess it’s all for the best. If he had asked me instead, I would have had to turn him down anyway.

At least k.d. lang is still single. She is, right? *puss n’ boots eyes*

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

The King Likes Mika , too!

Luis sent this to me ater receiving my review for Mika's CD (I loved it!), Life in Cartoon Motion. The King rocks! :)

Here's the message:

You know who else likes Mika? Stephen King. ;)

*

STEPHEN KING NAMES HIS TOP 7 ALBUMS OF 2007

Author Stephen King reveals his seven picks for the
"best albums of the year" in Entertainment Weekly's
Dec. 7 issue.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22028729/

NEW YORK - Stephen King’s taste in music is more
eclectic than scary.

The best-selling author reveals his seven picks for
the “best albums of the year” in Entertainment
Weekly’s Dec. 7 issue.

“In truth, your Uncle Stevie was disappointed with
this year’s new music, very disappointed indeed, and
his year-end list reflects that,” King writes. “I
could only find seven albums I wanted to mention ...”

His No. 1 pick is Steve Earle’s “Washington Square
Serenade,” followed by Wilco’s “Sky Blue Sky,” Mika’s
“Life in Cartoon Motion” and Lyle Lovett and His Large
Band’s “It’s Not Big It’s Large.”

Of Lovett’s album, King says: “This is a terrific
Texas swing album, but of course not everybody likes
Texas swing (or even knows what it is). What makes it
special is Lovett’s vermouth-dry vocals and his
equally dry wit.”

King’s fifth choice is Ozzy Osbourne’s “Black Rain” —
“finest heavy metal record of the year; a true
speaker-buster” — followed by John Fogerty’s “Revival”
and Southern Culture on the Skids’ “Countrypolitan
Favorites.”