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.