A Holiday Message from Duckie

It's midnight in the Philippines! Church bells are ringing all over the Islands (and all over our part of Asia) as we welcome the anniversary of Christ's birth.



Am listening to Josh Groban's "O Holy Night" (my favourite version) as my cousin Mayeth is doing my hair - I'm slated to sing La Cantique de Noel (aka O Holy Night) in about four and a half hours... and I'm getting over a cold. Wish me luck.

Hong Kong is the place to be

I've been in Hong Kong for the past few days, and I'm leaving in about twelve hours. I'm writing this from the hotel lobby's computer terminal (it's about 2:32 AM lol) and I just had to say that I'm kind of sad to go. Adriaan (who was partly raised here) was right; you can live here your entire life and never run out of things to do. This is so far the only city that has tired me out this much (four nights out of five I fell asleep before midnight, and I'm a night owl) and I enjoyed almost every minute of it (even though I got a bit snappish when my feet hurt/I got dehydrated from walking around so much). Oh, and we also went to Macau (the Venetian and the part of town around St. Paul's) - I can cross those off my "Hana Yori Dango/Boys Over Flowers" location list XDDDDDD

I really don't know why I'm still awake, especially as I've been so tired at night these past few days, but I just felt like checking in haha.

Hong Kong!!!

After one lovely flight (Adriaan and I got one row away from business class because we were so early and he is so tall) I am now in Hong Kong. The ride to HK Station from the airport was beautiful, and the airport has been voted Best Airport several times since it opened. I'm in quite a nice area - right on the edge of nightlife and shopping. Adriaan and I have already checked out Wan Chai, which is the part of the nightlife area on the Island, and will soon be going down to see the races at Happy Valley Racecourse, which is down the street from us. In fact, our (23rd story) room overlooks the course, as well as a lovely Catholic cemetery. Right now we are on the fifth floor of our hotel, which has a patio enclosed by a bamboo fence and rattan furniture. The air is balmy, and just right now that we've stopped walking :D I've been up all day, but HK just has so much energy - tonight, just on our block, the weekly races are on; traffic is bustling on Queen's Road East and Wong Nai through the tunnel; and across the street at Queen Elizabeth Stadium the East Asian Games are going on (I've been seeing a lot of athletes go in and out of our hotel, in addition to the normal swanky looking tourists) - so I don't want to crash just yet.

More to come as the vacation continues.

Stuck

in the NAIA Centennial Terminal for four hours because my mom and Uncle Jun have to get out of Metro Manila before coding hours start (and today's our unlucky day). I love travel and I love sunrises and I love airports and I love that I'm going to Hong Kong and I love that I have free Wi-Fi AND a place to plug in but I HATE GETTING UP EARLY.

Homecoming

I'm in the Philippines!!! I've been here since the third (left America on the first and landed at 3:30 AM Thursday). This is quite an interesting trip because I'm finally taking someone who's not related - my friend Adriaan from college (dude in the pic) is here with us for a month before he goes to Thailand for his TESOL certificate.

So far it's been pretty chill - we went to SM for two straight days, I relaxed at home a lot, and got to hang with family again. They're pretty amused by how game Adriaan is with everything - he isn't picky for the most part, so he's just been trying everything and seeing a lot of the sights (although we were a little freaked when he went walking without a cellphone for an hour lol). I'm still concerned about their true thoughts about him, though - everyone's been saying he's at the mercy of my grandmother and her razor-sharp wit XD and there's always the novelty of having a white guy around. Tongues must be wagging about me/him >_<

I got a new nephew and two new nieces/goddaughters, with another on the way, so I've just been playing with the kids. I feel soooo domestic lol. Carlos is so cheery (and heavy aaaargh) while Lian and Vikki are adorable, although the poor girls have got their share of health problems. As Vikki is Mayeth's daughter, I've been looking after her most. Yeth and I have a running joke that Vikki took after me (skin problems, can't live without aircon, always wanting to go out) because I'm her best friend LOL.

Also, this sounds totally dorky of me but I'm so excited to be in the Philippines for the last week of "Lovers in Paris" (although I'll be in Hong Kong the last three days...) XD

This week we'll be jetting off to Hong Kong for five days, so look out for more updates soon!

I want nobody, nobody but Ondoy

Found this clip while randomly looking at the typhoon footage and it reminded me of when I was little. I lived on Piy Margall, a street that runs straight into UST, and this part of Manila floods easy. Our block had raised sidewalks... that the floods still reached the top of. I was four when I moved to America, so every flood looked epic to me when I lived in Sampaloc - my feet wouldn't even have reached the ground if I ever dared to wade through the water, wee little thing that I was. Now, I'm twenty-two, and know the scope of the (unprecedented) damage that this typhoon has caused - and it is truly epic.

But the best thing about this clip is at the end; now I know that it isn't proper to make light of the storm, but the ending is priceless. The water is waist-deep, the damage catastrophic, and the storm victims... begin singing "Nobody."

Gotta love the indomitable Filipino spirit.



This couldn't have come at a better time, because the song has been on infinite loop in my head for the entire month of October thus far.

A Paris, les amants s'aiment à leur facon.

Just watched "Lovers in Paris" starring KC Concepcion (AUP '07, woot woot). Ordinarily I hate Filipino soap operas (too cheesy and melodramatic, or at least more so than is tolerable for my taste in Asian dramas) but of course this one interests me because of its setting- Paris! I haven't watched the Korean version, even though they showed it (dubbed) on TFC, but I think I might watch this one. My mother is always hooked on her telenovelas, but especially this one because it's (1) Paris and (2) Sharon Cuneta's daughter XD. Thus, she made me watch it and as cheesy as it is, I enjoyed it, especially observing the little quirks.

First, the movie little Vivian is watching is "Sabrina," starring Audrey Hepburn - one of my favourite actresses and one of my favourite films, especially in the "American in Paris" genre. (My favourite of the "American in Paris" films is, of course, "Funny Face," because of the fashion, the dancing, the singing and the protagonist, named Jo.) Next, watching KC playing a poor girl is mildly amusing (if you're into Asian dramas/manga, she is much more of the Shizuka Todo type: rich, beautiful, lives in Paris). Also, it's fun trying to figure out where they shot - of course the Eiffel Tower is a main focus, not only because it's probably the only thing most Filipinos can identify about Paris, but also because KC went to AUP... down the street from the Eiffel Tower :D The stock characters are way too obvious, but that's part of the fun. The subtitles are all right, even though they don't always match (I think it's for convenience's sake). Sadly, I tried avoiding the subtitles and my French listening comprehension has gone WAY down since I left T_T The awesome part, though, is that Vivian is a Manilena, born of a Kapampangan mother... just like me ^_______________^ My mom and I were laughing at the random Kapampangan interspersed between the Tagalog, English and French.

... Yeah, I think I just got sucked into a telenovela. But as my main extracurricular activity in Paris was acting, I'm happy to support a fellow performer; KC was also part of White Mask when she studied at AUP :)

BUT, ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE: my birthplace, Manila, is underwater from the tropical storm. Please do what you can to help... the death toll is rising and apparently the physical damage is worse than Katrina. Considering the quality of life in the Philippines, this is much, much worse than Katrina; The people are much poorer and the city will probably take longer to recover.

A Salute to Jun Matsumoto

This has nothing to do with traveling, but I've been sucked headfirst into the world of Japanese television for the past year and a half, and so I wanted to share that in a way that wouldn't be embarrassing (because I usually am about my fangirling). And just in time for the end of my favourite J-actor's birthday, I present thirteen of my favourite Matsujun moments. There were a lot, but I narrowed it down by a. which ones stuck out the most to me b. what represented him most and c. whether or not I could find the clips online XD

The Best of Jun Matsumoto (in no particular order)

1 Yabai Yabai Yabai

Matsujun's solo from "Time," Arashi's 2007 album. This solo marks the birth of the (in?)famous "MJ Walk," in which Jun, suspended by wires, walks upside down on a beam high above the stage in Tokyo Dome (after giving the illusion that he is walking on invisible stairs). Then he drops down a hundred feet, bounces back up and flies around for another minute and a half before touching down onstage and breaking into his song and dance, which includes another famous MJ Walk - namely, the moonwalk. Jun is often compared to Michael Jackson, either lovingly or mockingly, and this performance (among others, especially after Jackson's death) shows that he is definitely in on the joke.




2 Sirius

A song from "Dream A Live," Arashi's 2008 album. A sweet ballad, it is also probably Jun's best vocal performance. To those who say he can't sing, I rebut that he is capable of expelling air from his lungs and through his larynx in the form of tones and words (and thus he is technically able to "sing") and hold this as an example.

... but this is pretty much all I've got.



3 Jun meets Janet

Janet Jackson's appearance on Utawara, a show that Jun used to cohost. Being a huge fan of Michael Jackson, it would make sense that he's a huge fan of MJ's imouto. I love this because it shows that even Jun is capable of fangirling (and fangirl he does, especially after Miss Jackson tells him his eyes look like her nephew's). I'm a huge Jacksons fan so it's awesome that someone I fangirl over regularly has something in common with me.


Watch Matsujun meets Janet Jackson in Entertainment | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

4 Don't make J angry

Throughout their career, Arashi has taken care of animals, senior citizens, the environment, and children (among other things). Jun is famous for being short-tempered... so what does an idol do when he's faced with annoying children and a camera in his face? He's got a reputation to uphold, you know.

Also, I will never not laugh when he gets hit by the ball. There's a longer version where he gets kicked in the face by a little girl, but I can't find it anymore.



5 Jun vs Jin

Jun has a very, very, very sharp tongue, and is one of the more formidable products of the boyband factory Johnny's. One of his favourite targets is his junior (and alleged drinking buddy), Jin "Bakanishi" Akanishi. These two always go head-to-head in popularity polls and it's fun to see Jun dig his perfectly manicured claws into poor Jin.

I'm Team Jun all the way, and I think he won all three rounds.



6 Jun's perfect body

A beautiful figure rising out of the sea; very "Birth of Venus" (or Baywatch, even if Jun's too scrawny to run with Hasselhoff and company). Jun really, really loves the sea - he apparently surfs - and it shows in his lean dancer/swimmer's body. He might be a bit too skinny for Western standards, but I covet his lanky figure. Also, Sho and Ohno choking on their own tongues trying to pronounce "perfect body" is hilarious.



7 Kaze no mukou e (Music Station)

Being Johnnys, Arashi are regular guests on the Japanese program "Music Station" (three guesses as to what the show's about). Their performances on this show are pre-taped, beautifully staged and professionally done (both on the part of Arashi and the show editors) but the boys can't help but have a little fun with the performance. The best part at 1:35-1:45 - pure Jun, given his diva reputation.



8 M no Arashi

A segment in "D no Arashi," one of Arashi's old shows, in which the goal is to get Jun to yell "mendokusai" ("bothersome"). Here, each member harrasses Jun at a concert by forcing him to do tasks. Nothing's particularly strenuous or embarrassing, but the point is to annoy the crap out of Jun because he's the baby of the group and they love him in a twisted way (especially Nino, that little brat).



9 Ideal bad boy

A guest on "Arashi no Shukudai-kun" is asked to provide her ideal guy, and she says "an irritated, wild, white-shirted guy"... which makes up about 80% of all the roles following the name "Jun Matsumoto" in a Japanese film or TV show. (Even when he's playing himself.) But for most J-pop-culture fans, it all boils down to one word: Domyouji.



10 Singing in different styles

Masaki Aiba, one of Jun's bandmates, has a knack for creating hilariously stupid and stupidly hilarious games (a lot of which actually resemble acting or voice exercises that I've done). Here, the object of the game is to sing a mundane Japanese phrase (anything from "I'm sorry" to the narration of a soccer game) in a given style. Jun sings the news operatically at 1:50-2:30, proving that he actually has decent power and pitch if he'd stop being so damned nasal in songs.

But then again, he is in a boyband.





11 A.Ra.Shi with blindfolds

Arashi's very first song, which they have performed for ten years under every circumstance from charity telethons to sold-out audiences at Tokyo's Olympic Stadium. They could do this blindfolded... and that is exactly what they do. I'm sure Jun knows it just as well if not better than the others, but his headphones kept playing the song even when everyone else's were delayed. Whether that was intentional or not, it caused him to stick out painfully (and hilariously).

Also, for you old school fans, the boys wore their infamous see-through plastic suits for this song at Kokuritsu. Because there's no better way to spend Matsujun's birthday than singing and dancing A.Ra.Shi in the same see-through plastic suits worn for the official debut. During a storm.


12 Storm on the Seven Seas of Rhye

Another vintage Arashi show, "G no Arashi," in which the boys take on all sorts of high jinks. Here, they create an "air band" - instead of jamming to just air guitar like most people, they add air keyboards, air drums, and a lipsyncing Freddie Mercury (the perennially funny Satoshi Ohno) and proceed to perform - costumes, lights and all - in front of an audience.

Can I just add that Jun shredding on Brian May's blistering solos is really, really sexy? Even with the tragic Domyouji outfit (permed hair, leather pants, leopard-print coat and no shirt) and an imaginary guitar.


This clip disabled embedding, but it's worth checking out because it

begins with Matsujun's "audition" - love his O guitar

face. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCcRVi2LJq4

13 Kimi Wa Petto, episode 8 (part five)

This was the role that endeared me to Jun; although everyone who watches Gokusen (and ends up a Jun fan) crushes on him, I didn't really fall for him till watching this show. I've been trained in dance since the age of seven, so Momo's dance scenes always strike a special place in my heart. Also, he's adorable as Momo - who wouldn't want those beautiful puppy-dog eyes staring at them all the time? - and the marked difference between Momo and Takeshi attests to Jun's potential as an actor (he was nineteen when he did this, and it was his second real lead role).

Being that he is a dancer, his sometimes unnerving thinness actually works to his advantage here - he is ethereal and beautiful as Perseus, and his angular body is suited to modern dance. As is my own less-than-angular body, which is why modern dance is AWESOME.



Bonus: Smile episode 1 - Vito's arrest

Embedding is disabled here, but I wanted to stick this in at the end to give a different side of Jun - some people didn't like his performance as Vito, especially with all the crying involved, but I thought he did really well, and I am proud that he took on the role of a Filipino guy (one of us!!) and had the balls to appear in a show that faced the issue of Japanese racism head-on even when he is one of the most heavily marketed faces of modern Japan himself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoDgfyIwv4g

Paalam President Cory

I am watching the funeral procession for Corazon Aquino, the former president of the Philippines. They are alternating between shots of Makati, EDSA, and Manila Cathedral. The Cathedral, to which the procession has yet to arrive, is empty, in stark contrast to the thousands of people that line the streets of Makati. This is one of those events that I would've liked to be a personal witness at - you can feel the spirit of the people through the screen, even from half a world away.

I wasn't old enough to "know" Cory the way Filipino adults do - indeed, I was born during her administration - but I have much, much respect for her. For the non-Filipinos reading this (and the Filipinos who just need to revisit their histories), she was the first female president of the Philippines. Her term ran from 1986, when Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown by the People Power movement, to 1992, the year that I left for America (I was born in 1987, a year into her term). The dates are just for reference; while I may not play a part in Philippine history, hey, you're reading my blog. XD Anyway, she was renowned worldwide as an icon of democracy and truly loved in the Philippines as a mother of sorts for the country. She had immense humility, always considering herself a simple housewife who just wanted to further her dead husband's wishes for the country's freedom. Funnily enough, even with my Philippine birth and all her publicity in the late 80s and throughout the 90s, my first memory of Cory is from a Women's History Month presentation in elementary school. I think they chose her because she was an important female political figure, but in retrospect it's a lot more special because I grew up in Daly City and thus my school was about 80% Filipino. I feel honoured to know that such an important modern historical figure was one of us.

While I may have a tenuous connection to Cory, only knowing her through textbooks and news programs and her annoyingly ubiquitous and high-voiced daughter Kris I will always admire her. She did the best she could in the times that she had; she had to deal with seven coup attempts, a massive earthquake, a volcano going off, the deadliest typhoon in Philippine history and a vast deficit left by her predecessor, who spirited the money away in untouchable Swiss banks. Even though she couldn't completely pull the Philippines out of third world status (if it wasn't Third World by the time she was in office, it would get there soon enough anyway, to no fault of her own), she still did quite a bit for her country. For her work she got thirteen honorary degrees, armfuls of awards, was Time's 1986 (wo)Man of the Year, and just narrowly missed getting a Nobel Peace Prize. She was a brilliant orator and a courageous person. A devoted wife (seriously, running for president in your dead husband's memory) and good mother (no matter how annoying you find Kris), she was a world-class leader, and an inspiration to Filipino women everywhere.

Oh, and she had a degree in French. I would've liked to have talked with her, from the standpoint of both a sociologist and a Filipino woman. She would be full of fascinating stories and insights, I think, and our conversations would have been interesting both in the subject matter and the languages used. We would've been able to understand each other in four languages: Tagalog, English, French, and our regional dialect, Kapampangan.

... I would've been most interested in the French and Kapampangan.

Wanderlust

As I speak, the World's Fair is happening at AUP. I wish I could be there - it's fifty bajillion times better than any other school's multicultural fair because of all the nationalities there (about 100 in all), all displaying their culture's food, music and alcohol. It's about 4 PM in Paris, so people are probably pretty buzzed and slowly making their way to get totally wasted under the Eiffel Tower. Good times.

I should probably be going to sleep now because I have to get up at 6 AM, but for some reason I felt compelled to look through my Europe pictures (probably because I was looking at some EAP stuff). While I flipped through them I noticed that over there I looked and felt my best - I lost weight like nobody's business, and even though I had a bit of a skin problem I felt beautiful and chic and was having the time of my freaking life. I want that back. This is why I want an international job - I want to just comb the world for God knows what reason and take it all in, doing as much with my life as I can. I just don't know what to do. But I love traveling and playing at global citizenship... Santa Barbara is much too boring for me (and the public transportation SUCKS). Of course there are little joys here and there - for example, I had a gospel choir concert earlier and was having so much fun just screaming my lungs out for the Lord - but in the four years I've been here I've always had that misfit feeling.

I'm a big city person (especially a big European city person) and a traveller, so UCSB feels kind of like a bubble - two hours to the nearest big city (which I don't even like) and its own little self-contained environment. Some people love it here, and while the beach is nice, there's only so much you can do here. I'm dying to get out, but I know that once I get out of here my future is really, really, really uncertain. My bachelor's degrees can't really do anything by themselves without graduate school, so I'm going to be working crap jobs for a while... I was so lucky to have had that experience last year and I wish I could keep it going. But how long would it be till I got tired of travelling? Maybe it's better that I had that brief glorious time when I was twenty... although I would love to go back and do another proper Grand Tour (you know, one including Italy and longer than TWO WEEKS) before turning twenty-five because of all the sweet deals you get in Europe. And before the Real World leaves me too jaded. It'd be nice to go back to Europe in a headspace somewhere between the naive twenty-year-old I was then and the cynical, bitter late-twentysomething I am destined to be; old enough to know better but young enough to enjoy.

KC's Journal

Every time the subject of me going to AUP came up in a conversation with anyone Filipino (well, besides Fil-Am kids) the words "KC Concepcion" were, without fail and without exception, involved. Doing a random google search (for Filipino wedding gowns, of all things) I accidentally came across her blog. It's interesting to read her thoughts, especially as she posts so unreservedly (and in a mixture of Tagalog-English-French) on the site - she truly is just another Filipino girl in Paris. And it's funny to think that I went through a lot of the same things (for example, she posts about World's Fair, an AUP tradition that is basically your school's Multicultural Night on crack). I think she's awesome - she's beautiful, famous, somewhat intelligent, humble, RICH and globetrotting to the max - and I kind of get the feeling that she is the girl I was supposed to be.

(Although Sharon ain't got nothing on my mama. No one can outdo my mama. LOVE YA MOM.)

So when you get bored of me, read her here.

Updates

Well, for those of you who know me in Real Life I am obviously not in Paris anymore, but I've been thinking of continuing to document my travels. I am now sitting in the Rose Reading Room of the New York Public Library (the one with the lions, and the one from "Breakfast at Tiffanys" - or that very crucial plot point in "Sex and the City" for all you girls. LOL. This is such an epic library - it is like a museum and library smushed together and OMG WALL OF BOOKS. Love it. I've always wanted a library like this one.

The library is closing in a few minutes so I'll sign out now. More to come later.