The Top Ten Definitions Of Pleasure

I don’t know why we were doing this sensual topic fresh off of Christmas, but I guess all that food and merriment and frolicking and revelry fall pretty much into the realm of pleasure.It’s funny to see what gives pleasure to people.

December 28, 2009 → The Top Ten Definitions Of Pleasure – Sent in by Astroboy

1. Caramello – Pressing my pasa (bruises). I don’t know why, but I get a weird sense of pleasure from the pain. Maybe I’m a masochist!
2. Gracia- After a long hard day at working, crashing into bed with feet elevated.
3. Gorgeous Bitch – A single day without me getting into an argument with my mom.
4. Yoshimichu – Devouring in one sitting…12 inches…worth of sudoku!
5. Maldito – Checking the ATM during payday.
6. Maldito – When my boyfriend whispers so close to my ear that it feels as if he’s licking it..ay, panalo sa kuryente!
7. Sober – Waking up to see that there’s more time to sleep.
8. No name – Getting a massage on the sands of a beach on a lazy afternoon, as I fall gently to sleep.
9. Blitzkrieg – The first sip of ice cold tea after a long hike to Taal volcano.
10. No name – Seeing the look on my cheating ex-boyfriend’s face when I left a message for him on his car…using spray paint.
11. Marioh Caryo – Pleasure is knowing that my natural smell can give my partner a standing ovation.
12. Mr. Miser – Choking your sarimanok with your left hand while dipping your right hand in ice-cold water.
13. J. Hearts – The smell of my boyfriend. Even his clothes, towels and underwear.
14. Blair – When my baby cries and turns to me instead of his yaya.
15. Orcarding – Pagkamot sa paligid ng pagaling na sugat.
16. Raymond – Getting a personal e-mail from Serena Williams.
17. Hanna Banana – Secretly taking pics of handsome hunks in jeepneys.
18. Joeshred – Seeing govt officials charged in court for criminal offenses I investigated.
19. Infrared – Peeing after holding it for 5 hours in traffic.
20. Marioh Caryo – Pleasure is letting a mosquito feast on your blood, then swatting it to death.
21. Super Jellie – When my baby finally falls asleep after 45 minutes of screaming.
22. Dennis Pinch – Getting a surprise hug from your mom after being dumped by a girl.
23. Doraemon – Pleasure is when you get a massage after a tiring day of work. Tapos ang masahista mo, yung taong mahal mo. It leads to a more intense pleasure.
24. Dong and Lai – Pleasure is even if you’re not cuddling, but when your toes meet under the sheets, you can’t help but smile knowing she’s just there.
25. Kit – An ice cold bottle of beer to go with leftover ulam.
26. Marioh Caryo – Pleasure is holding a warm bird with its eggs on a bushy nest to warm my hands on a cold winter morning.
27. Jaspisanz – Watching that someone you hate with all your might suffer.
28. Dennis Pinch – Receiving a text from a crush even if it says: “Stop harassing me!”
29. Mumra_d_evr_living – A well-planned revenge that took years to plan and goes perfectly like clockwork.
30. Kit – Pleasure is having to pull down your wife’s underwear for her in the comfort room because she just had a manicure.

STOMP! Live In Manila!

I wanna watch this! Since Stomp! started in the 90′s I’ve always wanted to see this live. It was making waves in London’s West End then later in New York’s Broadway. Finally they’re coming to Manila! They’ll be having only 8 shows, from October 18-23 at the CCP Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo. You can call 8919999 for tickets or log on to www.ticketworld.com.ph or  check out their website at www.lunchbox-productions.com.

The show features a unique combination of percussion, movement and visual comedy. Do you remember this Dolby short that they used to play all the time before a movie screening?

That’s Stomp! To whet your appetite, in case you have no idea what to expect, here’s a sample of their unique way of combining sound, dance and comedy:

Videos I Like 14: Exercises In Creativity

These are the videos I’ve seen recently that were such inspirations in creativity.

Sesame Street does Glee

Hands-down, the best Glee spoof out there. Nothing like Sesame Street to do a perfect pitch spoof of the current culture tentpoles.

The next videos just gave me goosebumps:

500 people in 100 seconds

I swear, what sort of geniuses dream up of even just the concept, what more actually going out and doing it? Incredible and inspiring.

tall painting

Again, watching this mesmerized me. It made me want to take up painting or something. I just watched it over and over as it hypnotized and lulled me into a trance.

Planets As Seen From Earth

Being a huge fan of astronomy, this really gave me goosebumps. Even as a kid, until now actually, I always dream of aliens and space travel and even dying in space! I’m as fascinated by outer space as I am by inner space.

Madeon – Pop Culture

Let’s end with something fun. Love the song, love the video. I swear, watching these was a shot in the arm. I feel like creating something now; I don’t know what, but something…

Bigger Boobs By Slapping Breasts?

In this golden age of the Belos and the Calayans, with their nips and tucks, botoxes and boob jobs, this is definitely something new. I don’t even know how harmless or dangerous this whole breast slapping technique is, but it sure looks painful! I’m just curious what the whole concept is, she never really explained how slapping can help enlarge or contour a body part. Remember how we used to tap our chins up every time someone hit us on the head, as if to counteract the downward force by delivering little blows in the opposite direction? Maybe it’s something like that.

My only question is…does the same technique apply to penis enlargement…?

American Idol Live In Manila!

After we got to interview Haley Reinhart, Casey Abrams and Paul McDonald, I really wanted to watch the American Idol concert! Meeting them in person suddenly reignited the Idol fire that’s been burning since Fantasia won in the third season. And the 11 finalists didn’t disappoint.

I was surprised at who were the crowd favorites! It was mainly Haley, Casey, James, Stefano, and surprisingly, Paul had some of the loudest cheers! I was a bit shocked that Thia and Pia, who I would suspect would garner the loudest cheers, were actually tepidly received. I was surprised at how the crowd reacted to the different performers.

Possibly the weakest reaction was with Lauren Alaina, mainly because of her genre, I suppose. Country’s not really that big here in the Philippines, so it’s not so much her fault, because she really gave it her best. Also Jacob’s version of R&B was a bit too esoteric for mainstream Pinoy taste.

The big surprise though was Naima, who, coming into the concert was possibly the least popular of the 11. But when she started writhing and dancing during her rendition of JLo’s “On The Floor”, complete with jumps that ended with a split, she got the crowd screaming with delight. Perfect example of winning a crowd over. Props to her!

Of course when Stefano stripped off his shirt, the ladies in the house (and the accompanying bekis) just went WILD. Stefano looks a bit haggard though. When I saw his face close up on the big screen, he looked far from rested; he looked tired and drawn out. Maybe it’s all the touring taking it’s toll on these kids.

But as far as performing is concerned, the night belonged to Haley. The vocal maturity she’s show and the confidence she wielded just blew me away. When she sings, it doesn’t sound live – it sounds like a CD! When she did that jazz number with Casey, I had goosebumps! This girl has got IT. Even if she doesn’t become a big star (as she should!), she’d be a talent to reckon with.

The show was split into two parts, the first part more of the variety show type, with the finalists performing crowd-pleasing radio hits. You can’t really go wrong singing hits from Alicia Keys and Usher, so it was very fast-paced, and everyone was singing along to each hit. The second half was more concert-y, with more solos from the top finalists, but all very relatable, all very easy to digest.

Big winner Scotty McCreery didn’t show up until the second half, The show built sufficient tension and drama by withholding the charismatic crooner from the crowds until everyone was foaming at the mouth to finally see him, so when he finally made his big entrance, the screaming just peaked. I was so surprised at Scotty’s appeal. He was singing the same unknown country songs like Lauren did, but this time, the crowd was lapping it up. That’s how much his star wattage is, it doesn’t matter what he’s singing, the crowd just loved him to pieces. We love him THIS big.

I extra loved Scotty and Alaina’s duet of “When You Say Nothing At All”. We all forget that Alison Krauss is a bluegrass artist. All in all, I’m so glad I caught this show (thanks RX bosses!). I must say, although other seasons had bigger individual stars like Kelly, Carrie, Daughtry, etc., as a group, this is probably the best season to watch live. So many personalities and musical genres, and such big talents. I don’t know if they have the IT factor that will launch them to stardom, but these guys have huge HEARTS, all performing like they were in an AI finale, and I really appreciate that. Scotty’s the biggest star, Haley’s the best vocalist, and I can’t wait to see what season 11 will put on the table!

Will This Be The Morning Rush Decades Down The Road?

Seriously though, watching this video made me chuckle, but it also reminded me of a nagging question that hangs over our heads on a regular basis: How long do we still have on radio? Don’t get me wrong, we don’t have any plans of quitting or retiring just yet, we still have a lot of kick left. But with Delle becoming a mom in as soon as a few days, plus lots of things happening in our individual lives, I just wonder what fate has in store for us. Will we break the record for the longest FM radio show in history (what IS the record by the way?), or will we find other lives outside of radio soon? I wonder how history will eventually judge us? Anyway, forgive the random musings of a frazzled mind. It’s all this hard labor of not having a yaya around. It’s a long story, hopefully I can gather my thoughts and blog about what actually happened. Suffice it to say, we parted ways with our yaya of 15 years. So now, I’m TRYING to learn how to be self sufficient around the house. Not. Fun.

American Idol Finalists In The RX Booth!

It’s no big secret I’ve been a big fan of American Idol ever since season 3 was aired in the Philippines with the glorious hot mess that is Fantasia bagging the top prize. I’ve been lucky to meet a couple of Idols like Eliot Yamin and Taylor Hicks, but it was such a treat to have three of them all in the RX booth! The RoRo boys were supposed to interview Haley Reinhart, Paul McDonald and Casey Abrams, but they were nice enough to let such big fans (Delle and I) crash their interview.

We were so happy that these three were the ones who came over. Although personally I would’ve loved to meet Scotty and Pia as well (more for the star power), we were stoked that the three musically strongest finalists dropped by. Anyone who’s followed the 10th season would agree that whether you like them or not, these three were solid as musicians, not just performers, but actual musicians. And vocally, Haley is arguably the best vocalist in the competition. Although James and Jacob had big voices too, Haley wielded her instrument the most deftly.

They may not be as big “stars” as Scotty or Pia, but these three are dripping with talent. You could feel the energy in the air. Even when Paul sang ONE line from “Tutti Frutti”, we were already impressed. Darn, now I really want to watch (but I don’t have tickets!). Anyway, the three were just so friendly and accommodating, gamely taking pictures with everyone who wanted to. You never felt like they were annoyed or would rather be somewhere else.

I even loved it when Haley remarked after the interview: “I’m so glad we did an interview with you guys!” Their energy was very open, and we kept taking pictures as much as we wanted! I can’t believe that they were so nice about. I loved that part of the interview when we told Paul that the balut soup he drank was basically baby duck pee.

We heard some rumors about one idol finalist who didn’t endear himself/herself (I won’t tell!) to the local fans by being standoffish and a little blunt, but there was none of that here. I’m sorry if I’m gushing but these guys deserve to have long careers if fate would have it, because they’re talented AND they’re genuinely nice.

Haley is so beautiful in person, I was actually shocked to see just how hot she actually is. I didn’t see it translate on TV, even when she was doing all these sexy songs, but in person, she’s stunning! No wonder Steven Tyler would always subtly hit on her on the show. Paul is not as reed-thin in person, he’s actually tall and quite strapping. Casey is larger than life. All that bushy hair, the big personality, the quirky vibe, all bundle up into one interesting character. And his smile is so warm and genuine, as if he’s the nicest guy in the world.

Suffice it to say, I loved those three! I instantly followed all three on Twitter, and I hope to hear more from them in the future. Not all Idols achieve success like Kelly or Carrie or Daughtry, but I really hope these three get their chance at making incredible music for their fans to enjoy. Waaah, I want to watch the concert!!!

 

The Top Ten Holiday Pick-Up Lines

My most active post is the Top Ten Tagalog Pick-Up Lines, now with more than 900 comments, and still going strong. I’m quite puzzled by this post’s longevity, I’m pretty sure it was posted somewhere else directing traffic to this blog. I’m not complaining, I’m just wondering where the traffic is coming from. Anyway, here’s a nice follow-up, with a holiday twist.

December 24, 2009 → The Top Ten Holiday Pick-Up Lines – Sent in by Nakakapagpabagabag

1. YñaKì – “So, do you have a New Year’s resolution…I’m looking at mine right now!”
2. KiD BuKid – “Can I have your picture…so I can show Santa what I want for Christmas?”
3. vashNSYNC – “Where will we have noche buena, your place or mine? Better yet, you’re mine nalang!”
4. Targrod – “Can you be my maid-a-milking?”
5. Joeshred – “I got your stocking stuffer right here!”
6. Elen P. – “If I can’t ride your sleigh tonight, can I ride you instead?”
7. No name – “Kung totoo si Santa, pag gising ko mamayang alas-dose, katabi na kita…”
8. Lockon Stratos – “I got the meat, do you want me to stuff it in your turkey?”
9. Lockon Stratos – “Bagay tayo, naughty ako…nice ka.”
10. Joeshred – “Santa lives in the North Pole, wanna visit the other jolly red guy in the South Pole?”
11. Joeshred – “Wanna meet ‘Santa’s Little Helper’?”
12. Joeshred – “Wanna see my 12-inch elf?”
13. Greg – “Wanna be my ho ho ho?”
14. YñaKì – Wearing a Santa costume, you say “How about you sit on my lap and we talk about the first thing that pops up?”
15. Oscar Dela Hopia – “Other than me, what else do you want for Christmas?”
16. Oscar Dela Hopia – “What do you say I slip down your ‘chimney’ at half past midnight?”
17. Blair – “Wanna get sleighed tonight?”
18. Nelson The Midtik – “You won’t see Rudolf tonight, but I got something here that’s red, shiny and horny as well!”
19. Sasha Purse – “Hi, do you make love to strangers during the holiday season? No? Here, lemme introduce myself…”
20. Homer Singson – “If i were to dress up as santa, would you sit on my lap?”
21. Remorawr – “I want a band-aid for Christmas, because I scraped my knee when I fell for you.”
22. SPY Shadow – “Miss, if your left leg is Thanksgiving, and your right leg is Christmas, can I visit you between the holidays?”

Sooo Pinoy: Kanin Club

I’ve always heard a lot about Kanin Club, apparently it has a lot of fans, but for some reason (mainly because none of their branches are near my usual haunts), I have never tried eating there. So when we found out that it was to be the next stop of our Sooo Pinoy food tour, I was really stoked to try out what all the buzz was about. Since we all happened to be starving by then (it was a late lunch), we ordered like there was no tomorrow.

Sinigang Na Tadyang Ng Baka

This was sooo good. It’s the way I like my sinigang. Plus, the best part of it was, the meat was so tender! The slivers of meat were practically falling apart with the slightest chew. Definitely this was the way to start off a HUGE meal.

Sinangag Na Sinigang

When we first tweeted that we were going to Kanin Club, everyone started suggesting that we get this. Actually I’m not sure if it’s Sinigang na Sinangag or Sinangag na Sinigang. But this is an amazing invention! It’s so good. Obviously it goes best with the sinigang na tadyang. Together with the dilis rice of Fely J’s, this is the rice to beat.

Binukadkad Na Plapla

Dear plapla, we’re deeply sorry for making you deadma. In a fit of pagbabalatkayo, we ordered out token healthy dish, which we then practically ignored. Not to say that it wasn’t good, because it was (I ate a good chunk), but compared to the plethora of flavors that barraged our taste buds, this dish was pretty much overshadowed.

Bistek Tagalog

I posted these two dishes first because they were the ones a bit overlooked by us. I guess what made the other dishes stand out were the little twists that they delivered. The bistek was pretty much your standard bistek, and I would’ve wanted the meat to be a tad more tender, like the tadyang in the sinigang.

Adobo

This really caught my attention. First off, it didn’t really seem like adobo. Check out the sauce, it’s not your regular brown adobo sauce. It reminds me more of those tomato-based sauces like afritada or menudo or mechado. And it actually doesn’t taste anything like adobo as we know it. But you know what? It was dee-licious! I loved the unique flavor; I loved it not as adobo, but as a new dish. Plus, it had chicken, pork and liver, which I usually don’t see in most adobo dishes. But for some reason, the chicken tasted the best. I don’t know why, since they were all cooked together, but the flavor of the chicked was the best of the three ingredients.

Kare-Kare

No Pinoy food festival would be complete without my favorite dish, kare-kare. We had a choice between the regular kare-kare and the seafood variant. We opted for the regular, since all my co-diners are allergic to shrimps and crab. I like oxtail in my kare-kare but I don’t like tripe. Good thing this one had both. It’s very good kare-kare, very malinamnam and this is the only dish that I simply CANNOT eat unless I shovel spoonfuls of rice dripping with sauce in my mouth with it. Regardless of whatever low-carb diet I’m on, if I eat kare-kare, get the rice ready!

Crispy Dinuguan

This is the star of the show, the king of Kanin Club! Like I said, when we tweeted about our lunch, this was the most suggested dish. So we were like, what’s up with this crispy dinuguan; sounded weird actually. OH. MY. GOSH. With the first bite, we knew that THIS was our favorite dish. It’s basically dinuguan, but using chicharon (or bagnet or whatever crunchy fat-laden bits they were) and each bite or chew just squirted this wonderful chicha-yumminess to die for! But you can’t overdo this because I’m guessing that this is PURE SIN. But it is a gastronomic delight, definitely a must-try!

Let’s move on to the desserts:

Turon

Again, it’s turon like you’ve never experienced it. It’s not banana or langka, it’s some sort of ube-monggo-ish paste inside. Sweet, but too sweet, and very palatable. It takes getting used to, especially if you’re expecting the usual sweet banana flavor to welcome your taste buds, but once you get it, it’s quite delicious! The least sweet of the four desserts we tried.

Maruya

At Delle’s behest, we ordered maruya, mainly because she’s been telling me about it all these years, but I’ve never gotten around to trying it. It’s very rare for a restaurant to offer maruya as dessert. It was very good, but definitely much better ala mode. The ube ice cream was the perfect partner for it, although maruya-expert Delle said they usually eat it sans ice cream.

Leche Flan w/ Macapuno

This was my favorite. In our barkada, I’m the only one who’s not crazy about leche flan. I’m not a fan of flan. But this one was so creamy, and not so sweet, and the sweetness mostly comes form the macapuno on top. What a nice combo. The creaminess really got me!

Of course, what parade of Pinoy food would be complete without the Reyna Elena of Pinoy desserts? Again, what I love with the four desserts we tried is that none of them were too sweet. This one had just the right amount of sweetness to allow you to devour this glassful to the very last drop without getting umay.

Hands down, Kanin Club has been the most rewarding of our stops on our #SoooPinoy food tour. The dishes were the Pinoy classics, but many came with wonderful twists! We’ve never squealed with delight so often in one meal! For Pinoy cuisine aficionados, Kanin Club is a huge must. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

My Jollibee Mystery Solved!

So when I get to the Jollibee branch at The Fort, we were directed to the Jollibee Room where a table for me and another blogger (Ferdz Decena of ironwulf.net) was waiting:

It was so cool, it even had our names on it and it was all gussied up and personalized!

Notice how even the coaster has the letter “C” on it and Ferdz’ had the letter “F” on it. Wala lang, it was a nice touch, small details that gave me the impression that it was really prepared just for us. It was the boys’ turn first. Later that day, was the girls’ turn – Saab Magalona, Chuvaness and Jenni Epperson. This was the menu:

They also served us Jollibee’s new University Floats (they let us taste all 4 new flavors):

Then of course the time came to reveal what the mystery is all about, as the star of the event was brought in with the rightful pomp and pageantry. Up to the very last minute, it was shrouded for a more dramatic reveal:

Finally, I lifted the cover and it was — the new Jollibee Hash Brown Burger!

I’ve seen the box, now it was time to let my taste buds get acquainted with this new dish. Basically, it’s a burger that has, instead of bread, hash browns!

So it’s the same Jollibee burger patty sandwiched between 2 crispy baked hash browns. That for me spells the difference, the word: BAKED. So it’s not as greasy as you’d expect from hash browns, given that it’s baked instead of deep fried. So I was right, based on the gifts, it did involved potatoes (the 2 hash browns), beef (the beef patty) and cheese (the slice of cheese). That was a fun romp! Thanks to Jollibee for that little puzzle-mystery trip they took us on, till the next adventure!