The Oscars 2011: Young and Hip?

It was time for annual event that Hollywood's biggest names are anticipating for and the starlets dream of becoming invited one day. It's the 83rd Academy Awards and I'm quite excited for it since I'm rooting for a Natalie Portman sweep.

So, everyone has to endure the lengthy awards shows when viewers really just want to know the Big Three (okay, for me it's the Big Five), so here are the winners of the most coveted honors in the Oscars:

1. Best Picture - The King's Speech
2. Best Actor - Colin Firth
3. Best Actress - Natalie Portman (yey!)
4. Best Supporting Actor - Christian Bale
5. Best Supporting Actress - Melissa Leo

Here are the highlights of the awards show in my perspective:

• Melissa Leo dropping the F Bomb on her acceptance speech. It was okay, no biggie. 
• Billy Crystal honoring Bob Hope and completely upstaging the hosts - James Franco and Anne Hathaway - in two minutes.
• Movie Dialogue remixes featuring Harry Potter, Twilight, Toy Story, and The Social Network
• Colin Firth's acceptance speech which I thought was brilliant.
• Christian Bale's acceptance speech which I thought was funny for poking fun at himself and the few F bombs he threw in the past.
• Cate Blanchett's couture Givenchy gown which I thought looks great on her or is my bias just taking over me?
• James Franco's smile - need I say more?
• Anne Hathaway's gorgeous gown changes - despite a very disappointing hosting gig.
• Sandra Bullock's presentation to the Best Actor nominees.
• Florence Welch!

Actually, there was a speculation stating that the Oscars are trying to be young and hip this time to cater to the uhmm, "younger" audience. Thus sporting Franco and Hathaway as their hosts. Well, I think there's no reason to do that since an institution like that doesn't need to be "cool." It had become what it is right now because of it's reputation and it's credibility. It will not be considered as the highest honor an actor could have if the reason was it's ability to cope with the younger generation. Well, if that's their concern then they must have had movies like Twilight as its nominees. Well, it didn't really appear to be young and hip so the speculation must have been wrong, or their attempt to be one must have been a fail. 83 years need no modifications, it's fine the way it has been but I'm still thankful for many sightings of James Franco, so good job Academy. 

So that's it. Now, I'm going back to reality. But before that... here's more James Franco -

Photo Credits: http://www.whosay.com/jamesfranco/photos/14110

Relaxation is a Luxury

I'm awake at 5 in the morning, reading my ultimate crush's blog - John Mayer. For this was relaxation, reading a man's honest thoughts and looking at his beautiful photography and profound posts. I need to relax even just for a day, to make up for the stress of the coming weekdays.

Last Friday at work, I had to endure more than 6 hours of migraine that couldn't be defeated by Advil. I forgot my diet for the day and ate as much I could. To no avail, it wouldn't go away. I did my reports and files, had a meeting, with my eyes squinting, my fingers massaging my forehead, hoping the pain will go away. My workmates asked me to take photographs of their team, thankfully I had a blast and for a short time my migraine had gone. As I travelled to school, the migraine turned into a mild headache. Soon, I was feeling better. The only problem was I was sleepy. So sleepy that when I was bowing my head to write on my notebook, I would find myself half asleep for 10 seconds. So sleepy that when I would squint to look at my professor's writing on the board, I would find myself in a state a hallucination and dreaming for another 10 seconds. Thankfully, we had a discussion in class which I had a very deep interest on and was awake.

Fear. This was the feeling I had when I had the migraine. I thought I'll be back on the hospital for two months since this was what I had the first sign that I wasn't feeling well and had something serious. I wasn't being a trooper lately as well. I was sleepy and tired even just chugged down coffee, and lately been losing appetite despite the lack of sleep and even if my stomach's empty. I was also being forgetful a lot lately. Definitely, I'm stressed out. However, with a long exam, and papers due, and work on top of that in the upcoming week, I need to relax. I have to. With that, I'll stop my recent comeback to smoking. I have to.

This is ME Time with a Hint of Monday Madness

I began to question whether what was I doing the path that I really wanted to take. Well, for some aspects it is a no, but then maybe it was what I was really meant to do. I began to feel sad last night, I felt really tired and listening to Alexi Murdoch's At Your Door and Radiohead's High and Dry made me want to cry. I hate crying. Anyway, I held it together. Maybe all I needed was a vacation.

People always want to get out of something when it's not working the way they want it anymore - very likely and typical. I was not an exemption to that, but then I told myself - I want to quit when I'm on my peak of awesomeness just like the TV show "Friends"; not when I'm on the verge of an Epic Fail, just like any TV show which couldn't make it to a season or two... that will just make me a loser.

On a lighter and funnier note, (I find this funny now) my Monday started a bit off. I just hope this does not translate to my whole week. My sister and I watched a movie the other day which forced me to change bags and knowing myself, I hate changing bags. When I went to work, I rode a cab because I have this strange mentality that the earlier I am for work, the more I want to take a cab so that I could be at the office waaaay earlier. When I was already near the office, I realized that my purse was on the other bag! I only had coins on my bag. I called Jessy and Taski since they were always early for work on Mondays. Jessy was not responding and it looked as if I woke up Taski. My thoughts were scrambling, I was thinking of telling the cab driver to take me home to Makati or even giving my Blackberry. Then I remembered Yjez! She was just working at the building behind ours. So long story short, I called her and she paid for my cab fare. My heroine.

Moral of the story, just take the jeepney.

How Was Your Saturday? Mine was Great.

From left to right: Graduate boy Dex with Patty, Abe, and I;
Anndee with Mommy Sugar; Dex and Rowi;
Anndee with Daddy Ivan; and Cutie Pie Andee.

How about Saturday? Well, it was Dex's graduation so what would only be the proper emotion for it than being happy? We missed the graduation ceremony since it ended earlier than we expected. Patty, Abe, and I went to the post-graduation celebration with the Graduate Boy, his family, and Rowi. We took pictures of him in his toga at the parking lot to compensate missing the photo ops in the graduation hall. After the brief moment of picture taking, we met with Cae to attend our god daughter's first birthday. Anndee's such a cutie pie and so friendly. She smiles and laughs a lot. She's so adorable. I could only say positive things for that little girl who's full of energy despite a whole day entertaining guests. The rest of tropa followed and had more fun playing with our Tinkerbell. 

Again: Congratulations Dex and Happy 1st Birthday Anndee! 


[Some of the pictures taken by Rowi Sarte, Abe Abenojar, Cae Fevidal]

Yes Oscar, There Really Are Two Tragedies In Life

"There are two tragedies in life. Getting what you want and not getting it." - Oscar Wilde


Got both of that yesterday. Thank you Oscar for creating this favorite quote of mine.


From being paranoid the whole week for submitting a rushed and in my standards mediocre 25%-of-your-grade-paper (why did I really forget to do this?!), I got a low grade but didn't fail. I got more than I wanted actually. All I need to do is to just do better and everything will follow. I also spent the whole day with my best pals and ate steamed chicken which looked raw but really isn't and Rowi's favorite Hainanese rice. After which we went to MOA for Vic's event at the SMX Convention.


However, I didn't get another thing I wanted, which is to spend that time with him. I looked forward to that. Oh well, you can't really have it all.

Of Priests and Dancers: The Rite and Burlesque

The original plan for Saturday was to watch The Rite back to back with Love and Other Drugs. The reason is that so that I would be able to "cleanse" myself after a scary movie for I am not really good with the horror genre. However, I've had a sucky Saturday (which I would detail in a separate post) and due to time constraints and my "weak state," my friend Abe and I just settled for The Rite.

Armed with a hotdog sandwich and onion rings, I started to brace up for the movie. Anthony Hopkins as a priest who specializes in exorcism still is a delight to watch since he never fails as an actor. Definitely the movie was catered for the Catholic Church so don't expect a "The Exorcist" experience. It carries the message that not believing is not a protection from the devil. So if you don't want to be possessed, believe in God. The movie did its scare tactics with more credit to the background music (it's so heart pounding). So, if you're up to a movie for a good scare, this is not the one. However, just a memorable part of the movie watching experience is that the movie was accidentally cut just when Michael Kovak gets a staring contest with the El Mulo. For a second when the lights turned on, we thought the movie ended. It was just a movie continuing switch fail. All in all, The Rite is just an okay movie, not a "wow" movie. The Exorcist with the 360 head spin was better.

The next day as I was burning my ass while watching Skins season 2 and tweeting at the same time, Victor invited me to hang out in the evening. Despite trying to bail out because I wanted to nap more, I still went and watched Burlesque. I must say I was skeptical due to Vic's first movie choice fail and the fact that I am not a fan of Christina Aguilera and musicals. Vic admitted that he was watching because of Cher. Anyway, the movie was a surprise. It was actually good. Production, and the movie pace was excellent. The cast worked well together and of course my favorite would be Stanley Tucci. This is a movie to see. Vic definitely redeemed himself from the Hereafter misadventure. Despite the inconsiderate movie watcher behind me who kept kicking my seat, I really liked the movie experience. This IS a "wow" movie: sexy and very entertaining. Bravo Burlesque.

Wait, this is killing me: Does anyone know the song at the wedding scene in Burlesque? The one where Jack said to the DJ, "I love this song"? Please help me. :)