when the Choc Nut and Christmas islander blogs within the breeze of the Gulf

Synched the Anthology album today to iTunes and iPhone

It’s musically jampacked in the Philippines this August.  Doing concerts/shows are Rick Astley, Simple Plan, Spandau Ballet, Randy Santiago, Raymond Lauchengo, Gino Padilla and Louie Heredia in Greatest Hits of the 80s (catched them in PDA tonight), Earth, Wind and Fire (EWF, yay!), Panic at the Disco, Sonic Flood, Sharon’s Mega 30 concert (ho-hum) and other local artists.  Oh well, would you believe even Gabby Concepcion is holding a show with Faith Cuneta in PAGCOR Tagaytay?

And of course, the reunion concert of Eraserheads on August 30.

I’m such a fan of Eraserheads.  Though I’m not at par with the other fanatics.  What I know is I like them since college even if my closest buds then were into Rivermaya, then after college my friend (you know who you are!) and I spent a day talking about them and their music, and that I prayed hard for Ely Buendia when he had a heart attack, etc.

If I happened to be there, I’d definitely be torn between Eheads and EWF.  Which holds true, I even brought with me Eraserheads Anthology and EWF Ultimate Collection.  Because I like them, ey.  The others I was comfortable to have saved in my portable hard drive.

You probably know what’s in my playlist for this month.

To listen to Anthology album, click here: CD1, 15 tracks and CD 2, 18 tracks.

Many of us are long been planning to read Jane Austen’s classic novels, but at some point we couldn’t sustain the kick of browsing through it. Or probably you’ve read and/or saw any of the books/films already, but would like to revive the Austen feel. With these, we’re starting our own version of The Jane Austen Book Club. But from what’s told in the film or in the book, we’ll have a few refinement and we’ll do the following:

• We’ll be reading the same title each month
• We’ll write about the novel of the month in our own sites and specifically mention about our favorite chapter, scene, quote or anything that struck us most
• Link back the first Jane Austen-related novel post to this announcement and submit the link to your entry through the comment section
• All the posts/links will be summarized monthly and we can have our sort of Q & A for that
• Anyone may participate in the monthly virtual meet up
• I’m dedicating a page for the book club to include the schedule of novels to be read + the screenshot of the primary website (header) of the members.  It will be updated accordingly, i.e. when there’s a new joiner, etc.  Click here to see the page.
• Contests will be held after we’re done with the 4th and 8th (final) novels. 

Jane (yeah, that’s you!), are you ready?  We’re reading Persuasion for the month of August.  You may submit your entries until midnight of August 31, 2008 pacific time.  The rounds up/ virtual meet will be the next day.

Jane Austen e-books can be downloaded here.

It took me some time to find a copy of this book. I checked the bookstores in the Philippines since last year and found none, and even from bookstores in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, no success. Until a staff from Magrudy’s offered to order it online for no extra charge, I exclaimed Eureka. For that one reason + other things, Magrudy’s is now my favorite bookstore in UAE.

Einstein’s Dreams is a novel by Alan Lightman. In this modern classic, a fictional collage of stories dreamed by Albert Einstein was narrated. He was working then in a patent office in Switzerland.

Between April 14, 1904 to June 28, 1905, while drafting his theory of relativity, Einstein dreamed of many possible worlds:

• Suppose time is a circle, bending back on itself.  The world repeats itself, precisely, endlessly.
• Wherein time is like a flow of water, occasionally displaced by a bit of debris, a passing breeze.
• Time has three dimensions, like space.  Such people are content to live in contradictory worlds, so long as they know the reason for each.
• A mechanical and body time.

Where the two times meet, desperation.  Where the two times go their separate ways, contentment.  For, miraculously, a barister, a nurse, a baker can make a world in either time.  but not in both times.  Each time is true, but the truths are not the same.

• Where future and past are entwined.

It is a world of impulse.  It is a world of sincerity.  It is a world in which every word spoken speaks just to that moment, every glance given has only one meaning, each touch has no past or no future, each kiss is a kiss of immediacy.

• A world where time passes, but little happens.

If time and the passage of events are the same, then time moves barely at all.  If time and events are not the same, then it is only people who barely move.  If a person hold no ambition in this world, he suffers unknowingly.  If a person holds ambition, he suffers knowingly but very slowly.

• A time where no one is happy, whether stuck in a time of pain or of joy.
• A place where time stands still.
• A world without memory is the world of the present.
• A world in which people live only one day.  In either case, a man or woman sees one sunrise, one sunset.
• A world where time is a sense.
• Suppose people live forever.  Over time, some have determined that the only way to live is to die.
• Suppose that time is not a quantity but quality.
• A world where time is a local phenomenon.

This book is brilliant.  At first glance it may appear like a fast read.  But you have to think that you are actually in ‘each world’ (each chapter) to be more captivated and delighted.  It is supposedly about metaphysics.  But it turned out to be a romantic and oh so-poetic novel.  Weird, but I can see myself re-reading it soon.  That’s how much I did like it.

Photo source

As the world is talking much about Batman lately, who thinks about James Batman? In this film, Rodolfo Vera Quizon popularly known as Dolphy played James Bond and Bruce Wayne/Batman. Criticisms from known reviewers were made against this Filipino spoof flick, as they review the films which are Batman related: La Verdadera Historia de Barman y Droguin, Superbatman vs Mazinga V, La Mujer Murcielago, Bat Bitch, Splatman (which features a villain called the Pornguin), Buttman and Throbbin, Rat Pfink and Boo-Boo, The Wild World of Batwoman (aka She Was a Hippie Vampire), Bathman dal Pianeta Eros, the short Robin’s Big Date (with Sam Rockwell as Batman) and Scooby-Doo Meets Batman (which is the only entry in this list authorised by DC Comics).

James Batman was shown when I wasn’t born yet. Among the cast of this 1966 flick, I only know Dolphy and Bella Flores. I was hoping that this would be shown in Cinema Global, but probaby they won’t as Kabayan Central is selling this as one of its vintage Tagalog movies.

Despite the criticisms told about this film, nothing beats the fact that Dolphy is an institution in Philippine cinema. On his 80th birthday, he has launched his tell-all book.

More photos here.
If you wish to read the synopsis or see James Batman through Kabayan Central, click here.

Clockwise:  pansit bawang, inside the villa in Airport Road, movie ticket & free voucher, The Dark Knight tumbler

Today is definitely a long day. Friday means a weekend and so I stayed so late last night way and up still at 4am today. I was so engrossed with non-work related stuff, I didn’t note the time. But I had to be up at 9am for the Filipino mass at 12noon.  Also, I was invited for lunch by one of my officemates. It was a long planned house warming, she moved to a villa few months back.

How time flies. It has been a week since my birthday celebration. In today’s lunch, there was a number of people who were also there at the house last week. I got to meet other Filipinos who are practically in the same field. Amongst the food served, the pansit bawang caught me. It looks like pancit malabon because of the eggs, but as the name suggests its main ingredient other than the bihon (thin noodle) is bawang (garlic). It definitely left an after taste, it suits me because I (now) like spices. The surprising part is that this pansit is actually a specialty in Laguna, according to the cook. I grew up there, and just in case not, how come I missed that one.

***

As I was taking a few snapshots in and around the villa, the roof and tree and its proximity to each other mesmerized me. This reminds me much of Philippines. I had to sit lowly to capture it. I didn’t know the cacti’s tiny spines got to my denim. Before I even wanted to take a shot of that succulent plant, the tiny spines got in to my left fingers. I am thinking which did hurt me more, this cacti’s spines or the roses’ thorns ages ago? Anyway, all gone now. Lessons: a) don’t just sit anywhere, there must be another angle of the photo subject; b) bring a tweezer to make taking out of spines and things like that easier.

***

Goodbye to my plan of catching Mamma Mia at the big screen. It’s no longer airing in Abu Dhabi. Instead we catched The Dark Knight. I’m not such a fan. But there’s a box office queue, why not join the crowd, ey? I wonder why I coded one my crushes in highschool as Batman when I’m actually not engrossed with this superhero. I remember responding in one of the customized slumbooks, that he’s my most favorite action hero. What a fool. Haha. Maybe I associated my response with the crush code. Any idea if slumbooks are still uso (in)?

Batman tumbler

I must admit the movie is worth the penny. Much have been written about it. We even bought that Batman tumbler. This reminds me of KFC promos back home. I like Joker’s (Heath Ledger) characterization. One of his great films before he passed away. The things that did hit my interest: a) the robbery scene: the villains had to kill each other rather than killing all the bank’s personnel (remember RCBC rob out?), and well the strategy used to open the main cash vault + sneakers worn at hands; b) and a few conversations: Joker telling Batman, “You complete me” and “I get the feeling that you and I are destined to this forever”. Hillarious.

Batman at my palm. Joker must be envious.

As an aside, the cinema promos are just so cool. Aside from HSBC UAE’s buy 1 take 1 promo, for each ticket bought from Cinema Star entitles you to a free voucher worth AED 30 (PhP360, US$8) which is valid until February 2009 to Wild Wadi.

Have a great weekend!