Project 52 (52/52): On The Year That Was (And Why I Hope For The Best In 2013)

.:Project 52 (52/52): On The Year That Was (And Why I Hope For The Best In 2013):.
So there I was, celebrating New Year's in Hong Kong last week, and I quickly realized that I was gonna miss out on writing this post to cap off my 2012. That's fine, really. I don't mind.

I. Am. Racoon. Man!

It was great, being in Hong Kong. Managed to really think about a whole slew of different things, and I must say that Ocean Park was still better than Disneyland, in my book. This is despite the fact that I completely missed out on riding the Abyss, but whatever. I'm just glad I managed to get in some time with the Hair Raiser, and I now know why they used to have Disneyland cast members screening souvenir photos on Space/Splash Mountain for flashers.

I'd do a day-by-day account, but I must admit that my time in Hong Kong wasn't terribly exciting. Some Toys R Us here, some Disney there, some Ocean Park on the last day, and even an adventure in Shakey's Hong Kong, which wa nothing t all like Shakey's in Manila. The pizzas were both pricier, and ultimately, despite the presence of portobello mushrooms, inferior to our local fare. Morton's was awesome, and I even tried to search for Peking duck along Peking Road to no avail. Overall, mundane stuff, and most of my highlights involved figuring out various ways to get in touch with My Beloved throughout my stay. We even did the New Year's countdown together!

If anything, my Christmas party with the RH Bill Advocates the night before I left for Hong Kong was probably more eventful, since I won the "manliest RH advocate" contest that night, which Beloved was very quick to dismiss as not authoritative whatsoever.

Blasphemy! How can I be anything but manly?!?

It was great finally meeting the likes of @mrsunlawyer nd @tetalimcangco, but of course, m achie ill probably remember best the riot we had as @supsup010 ade it a highlight that the anti-RH person on Twitter called me a "baklang virgin na abortionista," an assertion which seemed a bit ludicrous because a gay virgin would probably be the last person to want or need an abortion.

I wish I had more pictures of that event, but unfortunately, I have to make do with what I have for now.

It's been a great year, really. Better than the last, in my opinion, from January all the way to December. If I could try to recall the highlights I had each month, it would go...

January: he CJ Corona trial, which I had very strong opinions on. I was mostly focused on work, as I had a very important quarter in Nuffnang that could make or break my career there.

February: went on a Binondo food tour with a couple of friends, and spent some time making new friends in CamSur, where I tried my hand at wakeboarding. This was also the month that Maan, a friend of mine from my Campus 99.5 days, tragically passed away. As usual, my February 14 sucked. This might have been when I started doing that Street Fighter thing during Fridays.

March: falling out with several people, including someone whom I didn't expect would figure in my life again sometime the same year, only to leave it abruptly all over again. It was also at this point that I started waxing poetic about Neko-Chan. I had high hopes then, I guess. I got to see Battalia Royale and the Hunger Games this month, so it was pretty fun in the entertainment department.

April: officially left Nuffnang, ending three years with the company with my head held up high, knowing I had wider horizons awaiting me. The whole Alakim episode kinda soured me on being a magician/mentalist for a while, so I really let my performances as one fade to the background as I did standup more for the Cartel and Mike Unson.

May: I found myself joining ID8, where I felt I thrived and still do, although there's still so much room to make even more of an impact. It was a good time for me, career-wise, although I did miss Nuffnang a bit, especially... well, I'll shut up now. And, oh, I spoke for iBlog on Comedy Blogging, marking one of my best talks ever. And yeah, did something stupid that was (but should not have been) work-related. That gaffe still haunts me to this day.

June: Cleo left 99.5 RT, and the beginning of the end was in sight for the station. I was doing a lot of stuff for work, which led me to meet Jinri Park, admittedly, one of the few celebrity crushes I have. I hosted ToyCon, so yes, that gave me an infamous opportunity to get a line in on one of my closest cosplayer friends, Telly. And yes, I went viral this month.

This never gets old.

July: Went viral again, thanks to #fap2012 and the KFC Cheese Top Burger, although the latter gained steam since June. Lulz were had. I really got into SPIT at this point, especially after their international festival. Working in Makati made it easy for me to attend shows in Quantum with regularity, so I even ended up being a rookie performer one time for them, and the improv bug officially bit me. Also, Dolphy passed away. Which sucked, totally. Also, moved to Makati during weekdays. Or was it June? I forget. Probably June, though.

August: Tito Sotto and plagiarism over the RH Bill, OPM is dead. We were rife with very amazing discussions all around, and I was getting very testy on social media. I think this was the first time I noticed how very selective I now am with blogging, which kinda explains the paltry 123 posts I had in 2012 as opposed to previous years, but the countless Tweets I made in exchange. That Anna Banana thing struck a chord with me, really. And I think this was when Gangnam Style started to gain steam everywhere. 8List was born, at least via Facebook page, so the craziness ensued.

September: Had a horrible falling out with another friend, and this is made worse how much she reminds me of someone else. Butch Maniego passed away. A cosplay trademark thing. I got "married" via booth to Telly. LOL. I assembled a TV stand! Wow! More importantly, I resolved to at least try and make my birthday this year better, and I did that by attempting to patch up rifts I've had. One particular rift was fixed, and it turned out for the better as we started communicating again, at least at the time. I thought we were making headway, and at least, the friendship seemed great, because I saw a certain level of maturity that I never encountered this often before.

The real highlight of September, though, was when in the middle of hosting BOA, suddenly, My Beloved got in touch with me. I was shocked and it really caught me off-guard. Two and a half years since my world was shattered, it turns out it's her turn to feel that way, and through it all, I realized that my feelings for her barely changed, except in terms of intensity. I was still crazy about her. I still am, and I still hope we could work through all the obstacles facing us. And yes, this meant I started hitting the gym, too.

October: I celebrated my tenth year as a blogger! It was pretty fun, although the celebration was kinda marred because of the end of the Disenchanted Kingdom. It was pretty sad when that happened, but at least, I managed to have a breakout article on the Cybercrime Law, which eventually got hit with a TRO by the Supreme Court. Unfortunately for me, the friendship I mended a month before blew up in my face all over again, and all I know is I wish we could have sit down and talked about it before anything rash had to happen. It was such a waste, because I honestly believe we had something good going for us. To be honest, I'm still miserable about it. I wish we could patch things up someday, but even our common friends don't think it's a good idea.

Also, this was when I first met My Beloved in years.

November: #AMALAYER happened, and I was so busy this month. I spent probably 40% of my time on work, 40% on My Beloved, and 20% on everything else. That was pretty much how my life has been since November, and let me tell you that for the most part, I have no complaints about that. November 1, something happened I didn't expect to ever happen. Something, obviously powerful and moving to me. LOL. Logan jumped aboard to WAVE 891 where I quickly followed him as a regular guest.

December: Hong Kong, Christmas parties, everything was a blur in December. All I know is that from November onwards, since My Beloved was in town, all I could think of was her. It's a bit crazy how short my account is when it comes to November and December, but all I can say is that I've been happy to have her back in my life, and the details are sparse because they're replete with hours upon hours of conversations and insights with her. When you connect with a person on that level, it kind of feels strange to share all of that with everyone else, as they'd probably be lost.

And that's 2012 to me in a nutshell. Pretty crazy, huh? Ultimately, here's hoping 2013 is even better, and may love finally find me once again.  

My fervent hope.

Project 52 (42/52): On The End Of The Disenchanted Kingdom

.:Project 52 (42/52): On The End Of The Disenchanted Kingdom:.

For a show called "The Disenchanted Kingdom," we sure had a lot of good vibes.

Well, damn.

It was 2009. I was at a point in my life where things were so down and out for me, and all I had to look forward to was the Bound And Gagged Kel and Jay show. It was why I actually went on a radio tour to promote my show, and when I ended up in RT, it was King DJ Logan's timeslot. He was back on radio, with 99.5RT, and he has a new team for his show, The Disenchanted Kingdom. They weren't around for a full month by then, really. I went sometime in October while their first show was in late September, at the height of Ondoy.

I've known Logan for years, since his KCFM days. I know he didn't really remember me much, but I certainly remembered him. I also got to know Marf and Cleo, his other two co-hosts, and I guested on their show, where I demonstrated to them my metal-bending act, which impressed them so much that KDL actually asked me to just keep on dropping by the show whenever I could.

For the next three years, that was exactly what I did, and I was pretty much an unofficial part of the DK team until the very end. 

And I mean until the very end, because last Tuesday, in what I thought was just another routine visit by me to the show, King DJ Logan announced that it was officially the final episode of the Disenchanted Kingdom. Marf, Cleo, Ana Q5, Maui, and Lu Skywalker weren't there to take a bow, but they definitely were part of the inspiration for that night's seemingly mundane show that ended somberly, but sentimentally.

I don't really know what their plans are for 99.5, and I'd feel bad that another legendary station is going the way of the dodo, but we've lost so many stations already, I'm beginning to feel numb when it comes to that. But yeah, don't ask me what they plan to do with 99.5 next. I have no idea.

We didn't have that month-long preparation NU had. We didn't have that candle vigil where people mourned our loss but were ready for it. People who cared were saddened profoundly because it all came with little fanfare. We went gently into that good night. We didn't go out in a blaze of glory. It was so quiet, and it was so hard to stifle a tear as it just ended right before my very eyes without us even having a chance to invite everyone by our side as we said goodbye.

But you know what? The Disenchanted Kingdom was a big part of the last three years, and it made a huge difference in my life, knowing how it kept me sane during some of the darkest times of my life. When I was miserable, The DK was there to ignore how I was feeling and force me to throw barbs back and forth with them. It was just like standup comedy, except things fell into place a lot more naturally. It felt like a family to me: y'know, the kind of family where you wanna strangle each other every other day, but you undeniably love each other? The kind of family where you will pick on each other, but if anyone else so much as tried to pick on your family, you'll give 'em hell? Yeah, that kind of family. I had one of those in radio, and I couldn't have been happier that I did.

When I saw that there were people saddened that the Disenchanted Kingdom closed up shop, I couldn't help but feel consoled in knowing that the joy and changes the DK instilled in me were paid forward to everyone who was listening to us. I couldn't ask for anything more, really: to be a part of a show that really just knew how to have fun, and to make those listening to us feel like they're part of that fun. I think my life would be radically different, and all for the worse, if I never chanced upon KDL, Marf, and Cleo way back in 2009. 

I am a better person today because of the Disenchanted Kingdom. And for that, I can never be more grateful than I already am. 

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I know we will see each other again soon, but for now, I raise my glass to the Disenchanted Kingdom and to everyone who was part of our crazy and dysfunctional family for the past three years. It was a beautiful ride, and I wouldn't have traded any of it for the world.

Closing time. Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end.

- Semisonic

I Totally Wanted To Blog About Sotto Or OPM Or Something, But...

... I'm just too tired. Still, I think Leloy Claudio had the right idea of bringing this all full circle.

If Sotto resigned from the Senate and reformed VST, he'd go a long way to really keeping OPM alive/bringing it back to life.

That being said, here's what Fabucelles had to say about Sotto on The POC, and here's what I had to say about the OPM debate.

My ideas about the latter are still not as refined and simplified as I'd want them to. While I agree with Leloy's description of the symptoms, I don't necessarily agree with his diagnosis afterwards.

Why do these nationalistic issues crop up during August? Three years ago, I think we talked about someone whining how Jose Rizal was "just some sensationalistic blogger" while Andres Bonifacio's revolutions "never achieved anything." (Okay. Maybe not. That happened in June.)

Then, last year, we had James Soriano's brouhaha.

Now, we have "OPM is dead." Pretty interesting, really. I'm glad I managed to talk about it at length with Logan and Marf on The Disenchanted Kingdom yesterday, which made for a nice bit of contrast when we ended up talking about "18 Again", the vag tightening cream, this evening. Wow. Topic diversity.

Project 52 (26/52): On Cleo Caliente (And Why Radio's A Bit Sadder Without Her)

.:Project 52 (26/52): On Cleo Caliente (And Why Radio's A Bit Sadder Without Her):.

Aaaand that's a wrap!

Cleo Caliente recently left the Disenchanted Kingdom and radio in general last Monday, and it's a bit weird knowing she probably won't be coming back anymore.

I still remember meeting her like it was yesterday: less than a month into the Disenchanted Kingdom while they were still a morning show, I guested to promote my second major show, Bound And Gagged, and that's where I ended up being an unofficial part of the Disenchanted Kingdom for the past three years. It was awesome, obviously.

And then I just hit it off with Cleo. Things just fell into place. And I don't mean this romantically.

Three years of ups and downs and general insanity. Good times. Bad times. Times when you'd want to strangle each other. Times when no words are necessary and you simply understand. Times when you'd walk across Binondo on Good Friday, and see a guy peeing in a plastic bag in full view of you. It's gonna be weird not having her as part of the Disenchanted Kingdom now, although that certainly doesn't mean Cleo and I would cease being friends. Still, there's a pang of sadness surrounding her departure from radio.

Of course, most people who don't know me too well would probably never forget that infamous run-in Cleo had with a hotel, and how that issue blew up to a point nobody expected it to. It was one of those key points in my life where I realized that as a friend, Cleo was a keeper, and I became more than just a fan of her talent on air and outright a fan of her as a human being.

I don't really need to go into the politics or the behind-the-scenes stories because they're irrelevant to one simple fact: we lost one of the good ones this week. The most disappointing part about it is it could have been avoided, and everything about this situation could have been turned around to unprecedented heights if enough people beyond the DK itself actually gave a damn. But noooo...

Cleo's unique point of view, her ability to quickly switch gears from demure to witty to provocative to abrasive at the snap of a finger, and her sheer desire to better herself were assets that her station happened to be very lucky to have. Unfortunately, they just let her go gently into that goodnight. A whimper instead of a blaze of glory, through no fault of her own, or the entire team, for that matter.

A shame, really. I take consolation in the fact that better times lie ahead for Cleo Caliente, and she will continue to blaze a trail only she can. I definitely wish her success, and I'm sure she can kick @$$ in anything she'd truly put her mind into.

Godspeed, Cleo! You will be missed on radio, but the radio industry's loss will surely be a different industry's massive gain.

Here's to nearly three years of friendship, and to hopefully less running-into-dicks-during-Good-Friday for us!

Still Disenchanting, As Always...

.:Still Disenchanting, As Always...:.

So there we were last Monday, just enjoying the kick-ass show King DJ Logan, Marf, Cleo Caliente, and (every now and then) yours truly manage to deliver on 99.5 RT, 6 to 9 every evening. After the show, KDL had this bright idea of going to Behrouz, as we were going to meet the owners of the place in Metrowalk.

Oh, yeah. The food was awesome. That much is a given. But what really got to me were the amazing stories they had to tell that night. How they do what they do, the kind of rigorous process they have to undergo on a daily basis just to make sure their food is fresh and clean, and even their very interesting love story, as things just fell into place for them in love and career in one fell swoop. With multiple branches in Metro Manila, you can just imagine how much ground they have to cover just to make sure all of them are running smoothly. It's a tight ship, but I personally wouldn't have it any other way.

And did I forget to mention that the food was awesome? Because the lamb chops and the ox brain still linger in my mind to this very moment.

It was quiet moments like these that made me very happy to be a part of the Disenchanted Kingdom, even if an earth-shattering announcement was made over dinner that night. We may not be flashy or bombastic the way other shows at our timeslot happen to be, but The Disenchanted Kingdom has typically been a fun show where people can just enjoy light-hearted banter and be themselves.

.:A SPIT Take:.

With the first-ever Manila Improv Festival happening sometime next week, you can tell that the time is definitely ripe for the amazing improv comedy group known as Silly People's Improv Theater, aka SPIT, to really make waves in the country and bring alternative forms of comedy to the national consciousness much in the way the Comedy Cartel has been trying for years now, all the same.

Of course, there are key differences, and as a fan of comedy in general, I'm very mindful of how different an act by a Vice Ganda and a John Lapuz would be from an act by Mike Unson and a GB Labrador or an act by a Gabe Mercado and a Kenneth Keng. That being said, it's really great to see that these different forms of comedy are really coming to their own, and hitting their stride as they reach audiences far and wide.

Last night, The Disenchanted Kingdom guested SPIT, and the results were phenomenal as Chester, Bibay, Aryn, Monica, Maliksi, Kenneth, and Gabe truly broke expectations, as King DJ Logan was clearly impressed by the sheer amount of entertainment he has missed right under his nose all this time. He was further surprised to discover that all this time, those little games he's been playing, such as Triple Threat? They're improv games, too.

The interview was pretty in-depth: from the origins of Silly People's Improv Theater, to the things they feel are necessary requirements for someone to become a good improv comedian, it really gave ample insights into the craft and the work that goes into improv comedy. How does one create laughter from nothing but random ideas by the audience and nothing but the most basic of rules to guide them along?

However it's done, SPIT has been doing it nearly every week for the past ten years already.

On top of the amazing interview, they even tried to push a scenario on me as a very cold audition. I was pretty miserable at it, but they at least saw I was willing to go through trilling like Regine, or jawing like Robin, while Logan matched wits with Gabe on the fly.

Then, the piece de resistance: a reggae song made up on the spot about what one thing women keep doing should forever be banned (I suggested "bringing up past transgressions."), which went over pretty well.

Well, what else is there left to say? I don't think I can sing the praises of SPIT any louder if I tried, so guys, if you're ever free from 28 June to 01 July, and you happen to be in the Makati area, why don't you just go mosey on over to Quantum during the evenings, and for 400 bucks, get treated to not just the amazing ensemble of SPIT, but even several other improv comedy troupes all over the world?

It's an experience that will not just be fun, but maybe even life-changing for you. You just need to let it happen.

Let the insanity commence!

Today Has Been A Good Day...

... Yes. It Totally Has:.

I don't have much to say, except for the fact that today has indeed been an awesome day. I know, it's been a year (thereabouts) since the demise of NU 107, but OPM has still managed to get by even without its radio patron, and it's not like the people behind NU are going to just not do anything at all, are they? I'm sure they're online at least, like on Dig Radio or something. Heh.

That being said, today has been a great day, indeed, and I'm looking forward to what the rest of the week has to offer. Needless to say, I am definitely looking forward to going to 99.5 RT in a bit, seeing as they're doing their on-air stuff in The Fort today.

Optimism. It's awesome, except for the quality of my blogging. Heh.

Random Roundup For The Long Weekend...

.:Freethinkers Triumphant!:.

I have never seen Red Tani, a(n) (in)famous atheist put his hands together in prayer before, but a few moments before Ms. Maria Ressa announced who was "The One" in the Globe Tatt awards, I saw him making the sign of the cross. Now, whether or not he meant that as a joke, I still hope someone photographed him in the act, because it was just golden.

Shortly afterwards, "Filipino Freethinkers" was announced, and I ended up giving them a standing ovation from where I was. I may not be a charter or committee member, but I support their cause despite being a Roman Catholic apologist, having contributed a couple of articles to them already, with plans for more in the near future.

It's a great victory for secularism in a country as steeped in religious grandstanding as the Philippines. True, it could be worse, but now, the Filipino Freethinkers is making it better, and that's really what matters.

Last night's meetup, which I attended late because I had an MTG tournament, was pretty awesome, too. We talked about a ton of stuff, including the gay vocabulary, standup comedy, geekfighting, and yeah, James Soriano.

It was pretty good to know that pretty much all the winners were definitely deserving of their accolades, to say the least.

.:Hitting The Stride:.

My last time out with the Disenchanted Kingdom was hilarious. Unbelievably so.

KDL's new game, "Stupid answers to stupid questions," really hit the spot for everyone, and when I gave my answer to that annoying question people ask when they see you in a picture being all sweet with someone, everyone in the booth just laughed their heads off before remarking how wrong it was.

Hey, Kel! Ang hot naman ng girl na kahalikan mo! Girlfriend mo ba yan?

Bakit? Masama bang makipag-laplapan sa ate ko?

That just really stunned everyone. Heh.

What Were They Thinking? Heh.

.:That’s My Girl!:.

“Let me have two of your best photos!” There’s no way this could possibly go horribly wrong, right?

So apparently, there was a site that allowed you to upload a couple of pictures so you could Be Gerald Anderson’s girl in a mock commercial. It was a pretty cool concept, and one of my officemates was practically gushing as she looped the commercial featuring herself again and again after she created it.

Essentially, the first picture would be used as Gerald’s cellphone wallpaper and the picture in his photo frame. He will end up kissing the photo frame before heading out to pick up his girl at her place.

The second photo will be shown while he’s driving to the girl’s house. He’ll point at it, and then say “that’s my girl!”

Pretty cute execution, interactive, and obviously, effective. What could possibly go wrong with this, right?

A lot, apparently. Almost predictably, someone made an explicit version of the commercial, since there weren't any means of screening the images uploaded. Folks, welcome to the internet.

For a while, you would’ve seen on this link a very not safe for work tour de force bastardization of the commercial. Man, what an incorrigible bastich that person really was, whoever he or she is. ;)

All praise be to Aljur for saving our eyes and sanity from the horror!

What was intended to be a cheesy but awesome way to market Maybelline products almost ended up being a massive disaster, if the news about it didn’t get to the people behind the campaign quickly enough. True, the video still exists, but at least, now that the people behind this have now been properly introduced to the 34th Rule of the Internet, I suppose a little foresight would be helpful from this point on, right?

That’s my girl - or maybe not.

I guess when you’re marketing something, you really have to cover all avenues, no matter how mundane that may seem to do. Don’t really want to condemn anyone here, as it’s clearly just an oversight, but I guess this will serve as a harsh but useful lesson for future reference.

Needless to say, shortly after this whole mess was exposed, the site was quickly taken down. I’m sure they’d want to put it back up after a while, but by then, they’d be more stringent with screening images, I’m guessing. We ended up having fun with the whole story on the air in the Disenchanted Kingdom last Friday, though (Without mentioning the brand in question, obviously.).

In the end, though, is it really horrible of me that I just had to chuckle over the whole affair? It was just such an obvious, albeit horrible, joke to pull. You gotta admit, if you've been on the internet long enough, you kinda begin to expect this stuff would happen at the drop of a hat.

.:The Unfortunate Implications Of Supot.ph:.

I think with medical science being how it is today, it’s pretty much been made clear that circumcision has more to do with cultural and societal pressure than actual medical benefits, given the inherent medical risks of performing circumcision as opposed to the limited scientific benefits that circumcision provides.

That being said, those very cultural and societal forces at work still make the Filipino word for uncut, su-pot’, pretty damned funny on the surface. I for one wouldn’t use the word as a slur against anyone’s manhood, but I certainly wouldn’t be surprised to see it still used to this very day, unfortunately.

Oh, come off it. Pinoys are smart enough to know which supot we mean. Right? Right?!?

Which leads me to the unfortunately-named Supot.ph. While I’m sure they meant su’-pot, or the local word for a plastic bag, the lack of accent marks on the site conjures only the other meaning for the word, which makes you look at this fledgling e-classifieds website in a whole different (I’m tempted to say “uncut,” but that’s too easy.), unfortunate light.

Neither does it help when the people behind this website are known collectively as “Team Supot,” which just makes people wonder if they’re secretly a lobby group against an apparently barbaric Jewish and Islamic tradition. Sorta like Russel Crowe, I guess.

I got nothing, really. The jokes just write themselves at this point, and I’m afraid of making one that would be deemed “too easy,” like another joke about “your mom” or something (See what I did there?).

Rambling On Independence Day...

.:The Reverse Celebration Of Independence:.

The freedom to be fabulous!

It’s our 113th Independence Day, and it does make me wonder how far we’ve really come. True, the spirit of EDSA is also important, and so are other key dates that we have marked down to commemorate what makes the Freeman from the Philippines the way he is today, down to the very fact that because I’m online more than anything else, I see more Filipinos hating this nation than loving it.

The irony is, they can be every bit vocal about it precisely because we are a free nation. We can tell Noynoy what a lazy bum he is because of the blood, sweat, and tears our forefathers shed for all of us on this day. Personally, I think that’s amazing, and if the very nation-bashing we see today becomes a reverse celebration of what makes this country (still) great despite everything we’re faced with, then so be it! Bring on the hate, and whether or not I agree with it, I will defend to the death your very right to say it.

Speaking of Independence, I’d like to exercise my freedom not to bash this country, but more like express my joy in being a Filipino. Or to talk about frivolous things like how awesome it was to watch “Hangover 2” with my officemates, and how I don’t feel compelled in the slightest to review the film, regardless. Or how awesome it is to be with the Disenchanted Kingdom lately and how awesome Ms. Pia Magalona has been for supporting our show like anything.

I could talk about a lot of different things just to highlight that yes, we are a free nation, no matter how many dimwits and corrupt officials we are beset with, no matter what kind of poverty we are faced with, no matter the injustices. We’re still better off than Singapore, and… wait. Maybe not, but there’s a point to be made there somewhere.

And the point is that with all this freedom we have, isn’t it the challenge to us to make of it something greater than ourselves? If we are, as St. John Bosco himself said, born for greater things, shouldn’t we choose the better things? True, our freedom in this country extends to so much as we can afford the choices we make, but that only highlights the fact that freedom and responsibility do indeed go hand in hand.

I’m not interested in hoisting myself up on my own petard and talking about what I’ve done for this nation. That’s rather self-serving and counterproductive. Rather, I’d like to make people ask themselves that admittedly unsettling question. Too often, we ask what this nation has done for us, and true, I understand the sentiment. But sometimes, we also need to ask, what have we done for this nation? That is the essence of June 12, 1898 to me. We have the chance to make of ourselves a great nation. It’s up to us to not blow that chance. While that unrealized potential can be sad and disappointing, the fact that the window still hasn’t truly passed us by should provide us with great consolation.

It’s still there for the taking for us, guys.

And that being said, I’m also proud of our film industry, even in the middle of the dreck we sometimes get subjected to, especially during the Metro Manila Film Festival. Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to catch the Nestle Philippines 100 minutes for 100 years film anthology, Kasambuhay sa Habambuhay, which really just hammered home how great storytellers our Philippine filmmakers can actually be when given the opportunity.

All in all, ten ten-minute films were shown to the bloggers in attendance, and we were floored by them. Now, while I’ve seen a lot of great Pinoy films over the years, you have to admit, our best ones tend to be just… depressing. Even during the Brocka era, you couldn’t name a single pivotal Pinoy film that didn’t explore poverty or loneliness as a central theme.

Well, we were treated to ten good films that weren’t depression-a-thons, and that includes the one entitled Silup, which follows the story of an honest cop going through an existential dilemma of sorts. It may have been gritty, but it sure didn’t strike me as grim.

Aside from Silup, we also had: The Howl And The Pussyket, outlining the trials and tribulations of a child with a speech defect who will stop at nothing to win a declamation contest. The fact that comedy paragon Eugene Domingo stars here makes this film just that much more powerful.

Oh! Pa Ra Sa Ta U Wa Yeah! A film about young love and the secret techniques housed in the Womanual. It’s actually pretty catchy, and appears to be a sequel of sorts to the Nestea commercial featuring the same characters.

Downtown, a touching tale about an old Chinese man that would be criminal for me to describe, because doing so without spoilers would prove to be too difficult.

Sali Salita, the story of how sometimes, words do have as much power as actions. The man playing the role of the grandfather in this short film will reaffirm your childhood if you grew up in the 80’s or early 90’s, unless his turn during “Ang Pagdadalaga Ni Maximo Oliveros” is just too traumatic for you…

Isang Tasang Pangarap, starring Ramon Bautista. That alone should already cement the film’s appeal, a surrealist take on the joys in a cup and psychic abilities. Monra is the true Mind Master.

Cooking Mo, Cooking Ko, Romeo and Juliet, carinderia style. What’s not to love?

Unplugged, starring Marvin Agustin and Eddie Garcia. It’s a very good film that reminds us that truly, the best things in life still boil down away from the keyboard and the glare of the LCD screen.

Tingala Sa Baba, my personal favourite, which is like the Waiting For Godot done by kids discussing the social caste system of the Philippines.

Ten great films, ten minutes each. A hundred minutes of goodness corresponding to a hundred years of goodness from Nestle in the Philippines. It couldn’t get any simpler than that, and this past weekend, they showed these films for free to the general public in select SM malls, including SM Megamall.

Indeed, June 12 is a great day. Today, we celebrate our freedom, and whether we do it by cursing the country and its government, or by praising the little or great things that makes the Philippines great, we are still indeed celebrating a freedom that those who came before us staked their lives upon, and the recognition of all that is the least we could offer them today.

Thanks to Aileen for the photo! Happy Independence Day, everyone!

Random Quick-Bite Updates...

.:Welcome Back, Cleo Caliente!:.

After a while, Cleo Caliente made her way back to the Disenchanted Kingdom, trading places with Lu Skywalker, who now handles the 12-3 time slot for 99.5 RT.

Was there last night, and it's pretty clear that Cleo hasn't missed a beat at all.

The Disenchanted Kingdom can now be heard Mondays to Fridays, 6-9 PM, on the station that's totally better than DM 95.5, 99.5 RT!

.:This Should've Been A Film Review, But Whaddaheck...:.

Trixie says: don't forget me come the next elections! Trixie the Fixie for vice-kagawad!

Two events courtesy of Nuffnang last week really worked out pretty well: the film screening of X-Men: First Class, followed by the Nuffnang family day.

Crazy tiring on both days, but there was certainly a lot of fun to be had. I'll update this post with links and the like from other bloggers covering both events as well as my two cents when I get around to it...

Street Fights, Sword Fights, Laugh Bites, And Geek Fights

.:Apparently, Spiral Causes Fights To Break Out:.

This is like, what? The fifth or sixth time someone challenged me to a fistfight or something? And over what? The fact that they can’t break out of the Spiral knife trap on Marvel vs. Capcom 2? That’s pretty sad, really.

Next time I see that guy, he’s not gonna like it when I give him even more Spiral goodness.

Let’s face it: if you suck at playing games, don’t blame the expert for owning you. Learn to play, and get better.

.:Machete Hotdogs!:.

Aljur’s hotdog rocks.

I never expected tuna hotdog to taste more hotdog and less tuna, but Century has pulled it off! On top of that, I even had the opportunity to just run into Mr. Aljur Abrenica himself, who seems to be the nicest guy ever, to say the least.

The Disenchanted Kingdom has definitely been a very star-studded show the past week, what with Karylle and Jim Paredes showing up as well last Thursday. It’s a bit crazy to know that they’re gonna be six to nine in the evening, Mondays to Fridays, come next week, though. Let’s see how that plays out.

.:Merk’s Yet Again!:.

Missed out on performing in Tomato Kick because of the Let’s Get Digital party, but I made up for it by having an excellent eleven minutes in Merk’s, combining some of my new and classic standup material with the ultimate crowd-pleasing mentalist act: psychokinesis.

There were just four comics that night, and surprise surprise, Chino Liao headlined!

Larger than life, that Chino.

.:To The Victors! To Uranus!:.

Last Thursday night, in Gweilo, the team that adopted me last time hosted the Geek Fight for the night, and it was all about Nerd Machismo.

Not pictured : an actual nerd.

With eight categories, including Organized Crime, Post-Apocalyptic Scenarios, Male Fashion, Manly IQ, Manly(?) Music (They played a Bieber song! How was this manly?!?), Secret Agents, Vehicles, A Goddamn Batman round, and of course, the round we Jokered (That is, you win twice as many points per correct answer in that round.), Pro Wrestling.

That night, I ended up seated with the team who apparently won the previous Geek Fight: the Explorers of Uranus, and they gamely adopted me, as I convinced them that we should focus on Pro Wrestling as our Joker round, even if it seemed, I was the only one on the table absolutely certain about our (collective) pro wrestling knowledge.

So we got down to business, and we didn’t have a very auspicious start. We were mostly keeping pace with everyone, until things started cooking during the Organized Crime round, when one of the veterans, Leo, just took the reins for our team and introduced us to the wonders of the Omerta and the Colombian Necktie. Ouch. Remind me to never pick a fight with Leo. Heh.

It was also shocking that during the music round, the ladies of our team were the ones answering with utmost confidence. It turns out they were clearly manlier than the men on our table, which just amused the Hades out of everyone involved.

The round that really swung it was really the Pro Wrestling round, as our team got 8 out of 10 answers (thanks to also getting the bonus question right), that catapulted us past Broken Social Skills, one of the best teams in Geekfight bar none, by the slimmest of margins: one measly point. That round must have been my favourite round of all time, considering how much of the questions I really knew the answers to.

As an amusing side note to the Batman round, when asked who played Batgirl (Lexi Belle!) in the Porn Parody, I absent-mindedly blurted out, "Wait, I know this! I saw... err... read about this!" The rest of the team just nodded at me condescendingly. :p

Anyways, as I did mention, Explorers Of Uranus ended up winning a second straight Geekfight. As you can tell, we were very happy about that…

This picture proves that the iPad 2 is the most awkward camera ever. Just sayin’.

Immediately upon winning, we decided to cash in and pig out in Gweilo’s, as most of us actually ordered conservatively that night. There was a lot of food to go around afterwards, all in the blink of an eye.

Ah, the sweet taste of victory. It is very sweet. And victorious.

Here’s to the next Geekfight, then! I’m totally stoked for it, and who’s to say what happens next, right?

What A Week, What A Week...

.:Historical?:.

Last Tuesday night, King DJ Logan went up onstage in Tomato Kick and performed his first ever standup comedy set. I'd have uploaded the video I took of it, but under pain of death, Mr. KDL has given me a very compelling reason not to.

Having said that, Tuesday night was really awesome, what with all the people who were there watching the show, as well as all the new blood that night brought together. I think that was officially the most number of open mic'ers I've ever met in one night, not including the Comedy Cartel vets themselves.

That really just rocks, y'all!

.:Quite A Rut...:.

Been trying to find inspiration to write for the POC in recent days, but other than the RH Bill and Noynoy Aquino and the still-stagnant Maguindanao Massacre trial, is there anything actually worth writing about in the world of politics at this point? These topics have been covered ad nauseam, and anything I could say would probably just be a retread of some other's pundit, even in the realm of satire or plain snark.

I'm trying to recharge my batteries for now, and I hope that something in the world of politics turns up that doesn't retread these rather tired topics at this point. I might sooner find it in me to write a showbiz article than a political one at this point, what with all this news about Mo Twister and Rhian Ramos, among other things.

.:My Good Deed For A Day...:.

Tried to surprise a friend by dropping by her office with half a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. Sometimes, I suppose it would be great just to spread some happiness all around...

Here's hoping she actually likes donuts, though. Heh.

.:Ready For The Rapture?:.

With all the rapture and end-of-the-world jokes running around thanks to Harold Camping, I suppose it's rather amusing to think how many people could possibly get laid for the first time ever just for believing this kind of tripe, particularly coming from a guy who got it wrong seventeen years ago.

See, it doesn't really matter if you believe in God or not. The end of the world for anyone comes at the moment that they die. That's the end of your world, while the rest of the world goes on. It's a bit of a buzzkill that you won't be forming a Tribulation Force or something by Sunday, but let's face it: May 21 would likely find more free comic books given out than people mysteriously disappearing as man and God meet each other halfway across the sky.

Why fret over the end of the world when you could do something to help prevent someone's world from ending? I think that if you were to do good for someone on May 21, Rapture or no Rapture, you wouldn't really have anything to regret by doing the right thing when the next day comes.

And then you do it the day after that. And after.

By the end of it, you've done your part to make your world that much of a better place. And you can be pretty much sure that by the time your world ends, people won't be happy to see you go, but will live on through you by your example.

I guess I know how I'm going to spend my time on this (hypothetically) last day of Earth, then. Suddenly, getting laid doesn't seem like such a top priority. Although I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if that was the only Second Coming to be had tomorrow...

That being said, here's a question for the commenters: what song would you sing at the end of the world?

Me? I'm totally Rickrolling everyone 'til oblivion, like a sick version of Nero watching Rome burn. With Rick Astley blaring from his fiddle.

Backblogging But It's Worth It!

.:DK Hilarity:.

All things considered, this week has been a watershed week for the Disenchanted Kingdom, from gaining about three thousand or more viewers on the website to Marf’s very interesting disappearing act for most of the past week, there are a lot of things inquiring minds would like to know.

Couple that with finally getting a chance to do some comedy again after a month-long layoff by doing open mic in Tomato Kick, and you can tell that things are nothing short of insanely building up to better things for the wacky crew.

Of course, last Thursday was filled with amusing craziness, too, because while on air, the gang decided to hype up the lie that I actually had some crazy nude photos of certain celebrities like Angel Locsin or Ellen Adarna or Kim Chiu and even those of a couple of friends of mine who shall remain unnamed in my new iPad. I played along, and when we uploaded the pictures on the DK website, well, here's what they saw...

Too hot to handle, apparently.

.:Itching For Some Itchyworms:.

And then there was darkness, like five seconds afterwards…

About a week ago, I actually caught a pretty fun show in 70’s Bistro with the Itchyworms. It was a great time to catch up with my favourite band, as they performed some of their best hits, besting even an untimely power outage with excellent music and showmanship.

Talking to them after the show was even more amusing, what with this particular person who insisted on singing us a song or two and then promptly shying away afterwards. True, she probably wasn’t all there and everything, but that doesn’t stop it from being quite strange to me. I also finally got to meet the great Dong Abay during the same night, so there’s that, too.

The night was just fun overall, but what really made it was the fact that after the whole thing, Kel (As in the band member, not yours truly.) told me the next day that he got jealous because I stole the Jazz and Kel duo from underneath his nose. That’s what I get for having the same nickname. LOL.

That's okay, though. Seeing as how I was applying in JAM 88.3 before, the fact that Kel is on that station means I'm not gonna end up in JAM anytime soon, since they already have their own Kel. He gets JAM, I get Jazz.

DK Recap

.:More DK Recap Madness:.

If you haven't been listening to the Disenchanted Kingdom on 99.5 RT, you really should. From 6-10 PM, you're treated to one of the most entertaining radio programs on Philippine radio, featuring King DJ Logan, Marf, Ana Q5, and Lu Skywalker. Every now and then, I drop by and guest, but this show is just awesome from top to bottom, truth be told.

All things considered, while last week was a bit fun thanks to how we ended up discussing some silly stuff where we just ended up laughing our heads off for no apparent reason. Obviously, our show went really well because everyone just hit their stride that day. I'm just trying to remember what we were laughing about, though...

Last night, though, was something else. With KDL and Marf absent, Lu and Ana had to hold the fort, and when I got there, things started cooking when we decided to talk about rules on dating and relationships. Lu practically gasped when I mentioned the rule about not dating co-workers and then pointing out I don't technically work with Cleo Caliente. That resulted in a pretty interesting discussion, punctuated by them telling me that if I had a hot co-worker, I'd quickly ignore this rule like it were nothing.

This was when I snuck in a greeting and said to them that Denise Cua, my uber-hot co-worker, is indeed hot, but I still wouldn't break the rule, regardless. Denise was amused when I told her about it, albeit yeah, that means I just threw myself into the friend zone right then and there.

Whether it be advice for a caller about getting involved in friends' relationship woes, or the rules on when to call a girl or how many rings she should wait before taking your call, it was a lively discussion all around. For a half-manned DK, that was certainly one of our better efforts, to say the least, although Justin Bieber being a security threat in an airplane was quite an irresistible setup for my lousy joke about Bieber being the bomb. I'm sure Bin Laden would've been proud. Too bad he's dead.

Well, better Osama than Ozawa, I guess.

Random Backblogging Again...

.:Ahhh, The Trials And Tribulations Of Being Offline...:.

The office servers were down for a day last week, so I was left here in the office writing this stuff while online. Surprisingly, this has allowed me some measure of productivity at work, as I ended up doing office calls instead of just sending out e-mails.

It’s good to feel productive, really.

.:Starstruck... Sorta Literally:.

So on air with the Disenchanted Kingdom, and suddenly, it turns out that the new FHM cover girl, Ms. Regine Angeles, actually guested on the show last April 14. How awesome is that?

Pretty awesome, actually.

What made it even more amusing was that their marketing girl, Nikka, turned out to be an old acquaintance of mine, so we’re now kinda back in touch after all this time. For a moment there, I thought she was the model, not Regine...

On the other hand, after last Wednesday’s Disenchanted Kingdom, the whole gang, KDL, Marf, Lu, Anna Q5, and yours truly, headed out to Kawasaki’s Krib Party. Videoke, gigantic pizzas, and a certain celebrity whom I didn’t recognize at first.

Thing is, the minute I realized it was none other than Ms. Katrina Halili herself, I flat-out froze, and I ended up telling her “sorry” for no apparent reason. She smiles and asks me why, and I told her it was because I was starstruck, which she laughs off.

It was a lot of fun, to say the least. The pizza was great, the singing was a fun mixed bag, and everything was all good. I was surprised how advanced the playlist was, considering The Script was already there, and naturally, this meant I was going to sing “Break Even” as well as my standard videoke go-to’s, like Gary V, Salbakuta, and so on.

Marf was playing the coy manliligaw, and it seemed to be striking a chord with Ms. Halili. I suppose it works in a way?

Anyways, that was a great night. We already went home around two in the morning, and we all had quite a blast, with much thanks to Kawasaki.

As a side note, I’ve never been a biker guy, but their Ninja bikes really look awesome. Makes me consider getting one.

Having said that, your moment of zen from the party...

Yep, I am the dakilang third wheel...

.:Peace And Quiet...:.

After Nagsasa, my next moment of silence was in Vistamar in Batangas. A bit of swimming, a bit of putting up with horrible videoke singers, but given that it’s with my mom and brother, and given that I’m offline at the moment, it’s definitely a quiet time.

I like the way the beach looks, albeit the fact that there’s no sand is quite a surprise.

Overall, it was a pretty fun and quiet couple of days, and then eating at Fire Grill in Tagaytay for a late lunch on Saturday, plus watching Arthur on Sunday was all good fun as well. I don’t feel like reviewing Arthur, though. It just wasn’t a terribly great movie, and it wasn’t in the context of a date.

Disenchantlings, Unite! (Plus A Note On Tricia Gosingtian)

.:More DK Madness:.

I'm hitting a bit of an impasse with my writing thanks to all the crazy stuff that's been going on, what with people joking that I might get sued over the whole Willie Revillame sometime soon.

While I frankly doubt they'd bother picking on someone as insignificant as myself in the bigger scheme of things, I wouldn't really stress over it too much if a lawsuit did hit me. It's not that I'm fearless. It's just that I know my libel law well enough.

That being said, I've been there for the past two days with the DK, and the Red Mobile segment "Dial A Drama" has been consistently hilarious the past two days, for all the wrong reasons.

Last Tuesday, Marf was tasked to be a guy who wanted to be a ballerina, against his military dad's wishes. The following hour, I was tasked to be a rich heir who got the household help pregnant, all the while making as many silly references to the absurdity of it all possible.

Then last Wednesday, Marf and I had quickly interrupted turns at playing Chinese guys whose Chinese wife gave birth to a very black kid. The minute we started using stupid racial stereotypes and attempting to prove purity of the Chinese race via "papers," Logan just had to cut me right off lest we went ahead and drove all our Chinese listeners to froth at the mouth over us.

And, oh, this month's FHM cover girl, Ms. Regine Angeles, was also in the show last night!

Can't go wrong with that, yo!

Overall, with tonight's DK happening in Emerald Avenue where WAVE, JAM, and RX all are, I can expect quite an interesting show tonight, even if the last two ODK blind item segments have been crazy explosive and downright dangerous for Mr. Marfori's well-being.

.:A Show Of Support:.

I really should write a longer article, but for now, let me state this categorically...

You may disagree with Tricia Gosingtian's evaluation of the Philippine Fashion Industry, but at no point was it warranted for you to assume her intentions for her or strip her from context. She made a very specific statement, and it was an observation, not a lambasting of the Filipino race.

How many times have we done this already? Foreigners who diss the Philippines are racists. Filipinos who diss the Philippines are traitors. Really, Philippines? Nobody can point out the things they don't think are awesome about this country anymore? Seriously?

Besides, she already apologized! What more did you guys want? You're all acting like Boyet Fernandez now... kneel before us! It's not enough that you said sorry! Beg and grovel!

That's what it means to be a Patriotic Filipino now? Really?

Well, then if you're a Filipino who thinks like this, you're bringing more shame unto this nation than Tricia Gosingtian ever has, having represented our country the way she has when she became the only Asian in fashion week.

And unlike Bryanboy or that Garcia kid, she didn't need to have Generals stealing from the military's funds to get where she is. I'd take her over those two any day of the week, thank you very much.

Longing For The Weekend...

.:Here It Comes!:.

Seeing as this was the week of Single Awareness Day, this wasn't really one of my favorite weeks, to say the least.

So with that, I'm looking forward to the weekend.

I must say, though, that after last night's hair-raising blind item on the Disenchanted Kingdom, a little rest would do me a world of good.

And hey, I did meet the lovely Kim Chiu, so there's a lot of good things about this week, when I really get to thinking about it.

I just wish that a certain someone would finally come around and realize that I need her friendship back in my life. Or has she really just ceased to care about me at all?

DK Fun Never Stops!

.:Disenchanted Comedy Night!:.

Last night, I swung by the DK (And I’ll be there again tonight, by the way, so tune in to 99.5 RT for it!) and we had a pretty fun night as Anna Q5 unveiled her latest game, called Anna Cinque’s Carinderoire. Essentially, the idea was to describe regular fare in the swankiest terms possible, and then asking people to guess which food it actually happens to be.

In any case, it has been awesome. Our banter has been rapid-fire, to say the least, whether off-color humor about Anna’s “bibingka,” or about Marf’s double heaping of blind items for the night, keeping all the people listening guessing and intrigued. Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable night, but it was just plain better the minute we wrapped up and headed out to Tomato Kick for Lu Skywalker’s birthday party.

It was a laugh-filled comedy night, and I met some good friends like JB dela Cruz and the great Mike Unson. It was a great show, and as I was going to be an open mic guy that night (Chose to go to the party instead of that night’s Votre show.), it was going to be a tough act to follow, especially since after Mike came Moymoy Palaboy himself.

When it was finally my turn, a lot of fun was had as I did some of my reliable material, combined with the Shanghai Shackles and Liquid Metal. Overall, we definitely had a lot of fun, and I was pleased as punch as things went just the way I planned them.

Congratulations to Lu for a successful comedy night, and here’s hoping for more of these to come!

DK Recap, And Weird Newsbits

.:More DK Hilarity!:.

Expect me to be doing more of this in the coming weeks, because I plan to drop by the Disenchanted Kingdom more often, but the DK has been extremely fun last night, as not only did I meet their new jock, Angry Bird, for the first time, but I was even introduced to this awesome girl who baked cookies for the DK crew, Ms. Bernie Ann!

It was a fun night, really, as we were just having fun talking about random stuff including certain things that fall under “too soon,” but then, once Bernie Ann came in, we just decided to have a lot of fun with her by playing Por-No Por-yes, and boy, did she do well, getting an amazing nine out of ten, coming behind only Rhian Ramos herself, who scored a perfect ten.

It was funny, because I actually had to explain certain things to her about the porn industry, and Logan poked fun over my level of knowledge despite the fact that I happen to have the worst score in Por-No Por-Yes of all time. I told her about stuff like the YouTube channel “Porn Minus the Porn”, as well as did Mr. Voice impressions for movie trailers about the weirdest porn films, and I had to explain copyright laws that allow porn companies to produce films under the “parody” defense without having to worry about being sued by their original sources.

Overall, it was a pretty fun show, and Marf’s ODK was as great as it always happens to be. I fumed a bit about the news over Enchong Dee courting Kim Chiu. So not happening. LOL.

.:Marry Me, Kim Chiu:.

Now, everyone knows how big a fan I’ve always been of Kim Chiu, and considering how I’ve practically reviewed every film of note where she starred in with Gerald Anderson, I guess that was no big surprise to anyone.

To me, despite her sometimes odd speech patterns, Kim Chiu exudes grace, poise, and utmost class. There’s just something about her that makes it impossible for you to want to ever look at her in any other way than as the paragon of the demure but beautiful Fil-Chinese lady that she is.

And then she shows up in this TV commercial...

What is this? I don’t even... is that even possible without CGI? Did she just scream out to everyone that she’s Elasti-girl in disguise? This is outrageous! How dare she betray her fans and shed her squeaky-clean image and look like a complete whore? How could she ever live this down, and... waitaminute, she’s really that flexible?!?

Marry me, Kim Chiu!!! :P

.:News Article Title Fail...:.

So apparently, the Megastar picked a feud with Hayden Kho because she jumped to conclusions. At no point did Hayden Kho even say that he was pertaining to Sharon Cuneta, but apparently, Ate Shawie has had her billboard scoffed at one time too many and ended up pouncing on the first hint of snark in her direction.

Unfortunately, she looked like a fool when Hayden promptly responded to her and denied the whole thing. Even more unfortunately, the news article was titled this way...

Really? Really?!?

She slammed him on the billboard! How hardcore is that? It’s like a Wrestlemania moment or something!

Post-Wednesday Quick Bites

.:Loaded Wednesday:.

A night of radio hilarity, followed by good standup comedy performed for audiences expecting to have a great time. Not bad, if I do say so myself.

Hanging out with the Disenchanted Kingdom and trading barbs with them has become quite the pastime, to say the least. It’s even more amusing to know that Alodia was listening yet again, and they actually asked me on the air why I’m not trying to hit on her, and I had to go all showbiz on them just to dodge that pretty awkward question. Heh.

‘Sides, someone else was listening, and I didn’t need to stress her out over it... heh.

On top of that, I'm extremely grateful to Anna because she gave me a nice post-Christmas present...

Overall, there were a lot of laughs to be had, and when coupled with the awesome standup comedy night we had where I tried some of my new material to some measure of success, I must say I’m pretty happy that Wednesdays have been my refuge from the insanity and hurly-burly of the work week. It’s been great, no question about it.

Y’know, it actually feels nice to be able to do these super-short but autobiographical blogposts every now and then. It only means there isn’t much stressing me, and I’m just taking bits and pieces of time to write what’s up with me.

.:Another Article On The POC!:.

This time, I cover show business, as I write: What Is Essential Is Invisible To The Ai. Hope you jabronis like it!