Ramblings On Gorgeous Looking Koreans on TV

I am again stuck, jammed and fixed over a Korean TV series.  And the stars of Start Up – the Korean TV I am baffled with – are just seriously gorgeous.  They seem to have been blessed by the angels and kissed by the heavens to possess flawless radiant skin, fit physique and impeccable angelic faces.  They are beautiful!

Nam Joo-hyuk… beautiful even when asleep!

Bae Suzy… loads of pretty-ness!

My niece is five months pregnant now.  Here in the Philippines we have the strong cultural notion and belief that during conception, the baby’s physical attributes is strongly influenced by the mother’s habitual activities and mental state during pregnancy.  We indiscreetly believe that there is a direct correlation between what the pregnant mother usually eats and perceives with that of the physical attributes and personality of the baby when born. 

I in particular, when my mom was pregnant on me, according to her, she irrationally craved and would usually gobble bowls of coconut milk in one seating.  That is why she was not surprised when I was born my skin was a little lighter as compared to my siblings and fairer than the usual brown-chocolate Malay-Pacific Islander race.  One letdown though, I have attributed my having very oily skin to the  coconut milk loading exploit of my mom during her pregnancy. 

Yeah, unlike the flawless epidermis of Korean stars seen on Netflix whose sweat glands seem to secrete glitters, I suffer from oily skin when I grew up. My face is so oily it could launch another Gulf War on the planet!

the skin that can launch another oil dispute on the planet! Hahaha!

And now that my niece is pregnant, we would often persuade her to spend most of her days watching Korea novelas (also known as K Dramas) with the hopes that her baby would look super gorgeous.  But I know for sure that no matter how my soon to be grandniece or grandnephew would look and behave, he/she would be well loved and cutely gorgeous in his/her own way.  His or her having flawless radiant skin like those gorgeous Koreans would just be but an awesome plus factor.

Those Koreans are so gorgeous!

Put Voltes V Anime Series on Netflix

I recently read an article which acknowledges the existence of Philippine-English.  It is an English language variety that is different from American, British and Australian English-es.  Philippine English is so prevalent – thanks to the big population of Filipinos on the planet – that it has officially been acknowledged as an acceptable English language variant.  It is so unlike the other English-es that it actually has its own slang and peculiar accent.

grew up watching this!

I have long acknowledged that I learned speaking the English language during my early childhood years by regularly watching Sesame Street (a TV show in American English).  But after I have outgrown my liking for it, my learning the English language has continued thru my childhood fondness for the old Japanese anime TV series Voltes V (pronounced as Voltes Five) dubbed in English.

I can truly say that Voltes V – which was controversially banned by dictator President Marcos in 1979 due to its underlying theme of rebellion and revolution – plays a big chunk in honing my knowledge of English as a language.

Unlike the most recent rerelease of this TV anime series which was dubbed in Tagalog-Filipino language, the original one released in the 70’s in the Philippines was dubbed in English.  What is so atypical with the original series shown in the Philippines is that it was dubbed by native Filipinos speaking the English language. 

I recently re-watched the first 2 episodes of the series (thankfully available on YouTube) dubbed in English and I can truly distinguish that the English language utilized was the classic example of how a Philippine-English is along with its distinctive accent.  My way of saying “comfortable buffalo” is so different from how Americans would say it!  Ask your native-Filipino workmate and an American friend to say these words for you to know the difference.

Sad to note though, that a big number of young Filipinos now can’t speak nor write proper English may it be of whatever English language variant.  One reason maybe is because shows now prevalent in various forms of media in the Philippines are now spoken or dubbed in the local Filipino language.

I am not saying that Filipino language is a bad thing.  What I would just like to say is that knowing a second language is a weapon, a faculty, a gift.

say “comfortable”!

I can’t seem to identify an English-dubbed or English-spoken TV show in the last 10 years shown in the Philippines that became trendy or popular among the youth which can be acknowledged later on in their life as a basis of their learning another language.

If given the power, I would re-release Voltes V in Netflix! The version would no doubt be the old Philippine-English dubbed edition for the present kiddos of today to watch and learn.  And if present kids now would reject watching it and prefers some lame and boring Filipino-dubbed TV series, me and my fine Philippine-English speaking generation would definitely look forward to watching it.

The Weakest Link in Pinoy Big Brother House 7th Season

I was once a big fan of the Filipino edition of Big Brother reality show.  I was such a huge follower especially during the pilot season, I once wanted to audition and be part of the show.  But due to very long queues of people also wanting to live inside the house, I never had the courage to enlist myself or tryout for a possible slot as a housemate.

Years after, on a night that I had the opportunity to watch an episode of the latest edition of Pinoy Big Brother (now on its 7^th season), I got to view the face-to-face nominations among housemates. And from the present and remaining housemates, the majority of their reasons for nominating another house buddy to be evicted from the house was because they find this housemate as a big threat from their winning.  These housemates would further explain that the ultimate reason why they chose to nominate their nominee was because the concerned housemate was very good during physical challenges.

Physical challenges inside the Pinoy Big Brother house are mini-contests or activities in which chosen nominees for eviction battle it out to win the activity.  Physical challenges would require physical stamina and mental cleverness. The housemate who wins the physical challenge shall be saved and will not be included in the week’s nominated housemate for eviction.

the weaklings… i’m not surprised everybody are still inside the house

the under performers on the safe zone… i’m not surprised the deserving dude in this group has been evicted

the strong, witty and deserving…. i won’t be surprised that this group will soon be totally evicted, only 2 strong contenders in this group remain, they are subjected to physical challenges week after week

And true enough and due to such prevalent reasons of the present crop of housemates during the nomination night, the possible evictees on this week’s elimination are those who seem to possess huge personalities with competent mental and physical capabilities.

This makes me sad for the show because if all personalities with proficient skills, talented flairs and brilliant cleverness would be kicked out, then the Big Brother house would end up with weak, futile and absurd inhabitants!  And true enough the present crop of housemates who were saved for this week’s nomination are a bunch of weaklings, dense and dimwitted lots.

If I am a housemate, I would nominate the weaklings inside.  I will nominate the spineless and the doormat.  I will propose that the weak and feeble be kicked out from the house.  They don’t deserve to win!  I will let the strong and clever stay.  It is because I wanna be surrounded by people with tough and stalwart personas, I wanna be hemmed in with people with brilliant minds and clever thinking.  These are the types who deserves to be the Big Winner!

what happened???

In the past season, Pinoy Bog Brother was a big deal because you are viewed as the earthling who has the impeccable wit, the amiable social skills and the agreeable personality that represents what a true Filipino should be.  But if the present reality show would continue to slant the show on how weaklings are gonna win, then I would no longer want to be the Big Winner of the Big Brother house.  Winning is like saying you’re the weakest housemate and that people commiserates with you.  The reason why you won is because people feels sorry for you!  That sucks!

Thus, if this is how the game is gonna be played and how the show is gonna turn out, I’m pretty sure, those who has been evicted from the Pinoy Big Brother house are so very happy that they have gone out.  This only means that these should-be-glad evictees are not the weakest link of the show!

And for me, I am as glad as that of the evictees, because I am no longer hooked by this show!

Hala! Labas ka na dyan! Daliiii!

The Imaginary Flaming Torch of Miss Philippines World 2016

The recently concluded Miss World 2016 beauty pageant shall be remembered as one of the pageants in history in which the best deserving candidate who gave the best answer was not bestowed the crown.

All top five candidates during the final Q&A portion of the contest – considered to be the ultimate component that will determine who shall be crowned as Miss World – gave pretty good responses to the question thrown at them by previous Miss World winners.  These past winners including the lady host (Miss World 2013 from the Philippines) who carried the imaginary burning torch of the pageant were still impressively beautiful.

During the final Q&A, one lady stood out to be the best among all these pretty candidates.  The whole world in fact loved the answer articulated by Ms. Philippines.

catriona gray: a big loss for the miss world organization

It was sincere, gentle and well composed.  It was so damn good, genius and impressive.   I could not see myself being able to organize such a metaphoric, to the point of poetic, type of thinking.  Too bad judges settled for a shallower and simpler type of response.  Thus, the crown goes to Ms. Puerto Rico.

I heard and read in social media, that Filipino netizens were truly upset about the outcome of this year’s Miss World pageant.  A lot of Filipinos tagged the pageant as this year’s the best cooking show in the world.

I guess, we Filipinos have the right to feel such.  I know we Filipinos will not berate or react this way if we know that the winner truly deserves to win.  Cases in point were the close wins of Shamcey Supsup the Miss Philippines during the 2011 Miss Universe pageant as won by Ms. Angola and that of Ariela Arida’s time during 2013 Miss Universe when the crown was given to Ms. Venezuela.  We Filipinos simply accepted the fact that these ladies were indeed deserving of their title and can indeed continue carrying the pageant’s flaming torch.

But we were similarly upset, annoyed and agitated when Miss Philippines Janine Tugonon who gave an impressive answer than Ms. USA but the latter was adjudged as 2012 Miss Universe.

And for this year’s version of Miss World, it was truly disappointing.  And being so upset and putting a pinch of metaphor on my disappointment, I would love to grab the imaginary flaming torch that Miss Philippines was talking about and throw it so freaking hard at the judges so as to burn them to smithereens!

Booo! Nasaan ang hustisya?!

Stupidly Expecting for Dami Im

In my recent journey to New Zealand, I got to spend a very short period of time in Australia.  It is because my flight from Manila to Queenstown was via Sydney.  It was a 3 hour layover at the land down under.

While at the Sydney airport, I was ecstatic because despite the fact that chances of bumping into my favorite Aussie celebrity was like asking for the heavens to give me the greatest love life I don’t deserve, I was still positively expecting some mystic phenomenon to happen.  I was not expecting to bump into Kylie Minogue or Hugh Jackman nor Cate Blanchett or Chris Hemsworth.  I was not expecting Australians to bestow me a red carpet welcome.  I was not expecting the mayor to hand me the key to their city.  I was actually hoping to see Australia’s singing diva, Dami Im!

dami was not popular yet during my visits in sydney…

I know it’s stupid but as soon as my feet landed on the grounds of Sydney, my bizarre and inexplicable hope for Dami Im to be at the airport!  And since I don’t have any photos to show, it means this longing did not transpire.  I guess the heavens was smart enough not grant such a wish, otherwise, I would not have left the airport in time for my journey to fresh Queenstown.

Let me just satiate and mollify this stupid wish by posting and listening to Dami Im’s latest single “Fighting for Love”.  I actually prefer Dami’s live performance during the X Factor TV show than the actual music video of the song…

Na-aning-aning lang sa Sidni…

Happy Chemicals Caused By The Robert & JT Moves

It’s already midday Tuesday in Manila before night time falls in California.  Does this means that we in Manila needs to be more patient and takes more time to wait before we could watch the next dance routine of JT and Robert?

a magical tandem

this cute boy is a great storyteller

That’s exactly what I thought when I patiently waited for the airing of SYTYCD: The Next Generation season after they were gone for 2 weeks to give way to the airing of the Summer Olympics.  And when I saw the phenomenal Mr. Jobangles routine, my impatience just suddenly vanished.  It was worth the wait!

JT and Robert on the dance floor are simply magical!  They’re the best thing I’ve ever seen on SYTYCD!  Their partnership is something so joyous.  Their routines week after week speaks volumes!  Their routines are no longer about the technicality of their dance moves.  It’s no longer about their having good lines and flexibility.  It’s already about awesome and touching storytelling in which happy chemicals are emitted by the people who sees their dance performances.

Now watch and be touched…

Ninakaw ng dalawang ‘to ang puso ko.

Moved by the Moves of J.T. and Robert

Being emotionally moved and warmheartedly touched is a handsome feeling.  It is one way for people to realize how beautiful it is to live.

There has been uncountable number of times that I have been moved by a song, stirred by a movie, melted by a speech, enthused by a book or touched by a video clip.  But never can I remember that I have been so emotive about a dance routine.

This is until I saw J.T. (the cutest dancer ever) and the equally cute Robert strutted their jazzy moves in So You Think You Can Dance: The Next Generation.  These couple are the most graceful male dancers I have ever seen on TV and on Youtube.  The emotions that both exudes are so uncommon.  Their movements seem to possess poetic words that would directly hit your intense passion and deep sensation.

J.T. Church in particular was such a joy to watch!  He’s seems like a genius poet on the dance floor.  This little young man can rock the wits out of every viewer with his dance moves!  I’m a fan!

jt church and robert roldan… (photo captured from the former’s instagram post)

I don’t watch or follow this year’s SYTYCD series, but the dance routine J.T. and Robert in this video, which came as a surprise recommendation by Youtube in my laptop, can already be adjudged as the best performance of the season.

Grabe ang swabe!

Miss Universe Without Miss Philippines Would Be Like…

Can you just imagine if there would be no Miss Universe pageant in the world?  That world I guess must be simply turning quietly around the sun trying to live a normal planet life.

deserving

miss philippines

But can you just imagine if there would be no Miss Philippines candidate in the Miss Universe pageant?  That would be like watching the Super Bowl without the Halftime Show. Or it would be like watching a Floyd Mayweather boxing match.  Or perhaps, it would be like watching hit sitcom Friends without Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston) in it.

Though Philippines has never won this pageant in the past 43 years, Miss Universe pageant remains to be the pageant of all pageants in this spot of the planet.  I no longer remember who the past winners were, but I certainly remember these funny reactions by my fellow Pinoys out from viewing their beloved pageant.

No other mega-popular sports event or reality-based contest TV viewers , I guess, have had reactions like these!

Come December 20, all Filipinos around the world will again be glued unto their TV sets with rapidly beating heartbeats hoping that their country’s candidate be finally crowned as the most beautiful woman in the universe.

Geym Na!

Man on the Moon by John Lewis

I know that it already have stores here in Manila, but if destiny would grant my wish of travelling someday to the United Kingdom, I will never miss the chance of going to John Lewis.  This is for the simple reason of being so touched every year by their Christmas ad.

John Lewis Christmas ads are so awe-inspiring, it seem to have become a tradition for Britons to look forward to its annual release.

This year’s edition is entitled “Man On The Moon”

tear-jerking…

Ang Es Em kaya maka-gawa ng ganyang ka-tatching na patalastas?

The Superbook Knows That Love Always Wins

A considerable amount of my time growing up during my pre and early teen years was spent by watching the original cartoon animation series The Superbook.  It is an anime series that chronicled the events in the Bible’s Old and New Testament.

joy, chris and gizmo

The Bible in its written form can be so intensely deep and enormously ornate in words, idiolect and terminologies.  Because of this, its thoughts, teachings and philosophies can be at times so difficult to understand.  Because of this, The Superbook then was my early basis and reference on how to understand the stories and teachings of the Bible.

And from among all episodes of this valuable anime series during the 1980s (including its re-runs dubbed in Filipino language), never did I saw Christian, Joy and their toy robot Gizmo encounter an episode that being gay and falling in love with a person of the same sex or gender is a sin.

Maybe it is because the creators of The Superbook series knows that it does not take a person to read, know and understand the Bible to realize that falling in love is not a sin.  I guess The Superbook creators knew that love is universal and that love is beautiful.  I guess The Superbook knows that there’s no book on “how” and there’s no book on “who” when in comes to love.

The same thought that this music conveys…

Ay lab Superbuk! Ang kumontra, Chaka!