Glass House; Dreaming on my own

I was waiting for the day when I could blog about this house that I saw at Makati. (And I hope the owner won’t come across my blog) I finally got the pictures from Charles. I won’t tell you the details about the place since it’s really not mine to tell. The reason I was so in to this structure was the details that you could see on every corner. Pity that I could only do one shot since there we’re people around and Charles got annoyed by the fact that I look like a stalker myself (Geez, at midday?). So here’s the picture and if you are the owner of the house, send me a mail if I have offended you at any point or manner (I highly doubt that).

P.S
Chris Tiu was nominated for the Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards for favorite athlete. He was nominated alongside Manny Pacquiao and Efren “Bata” Reyes. Here's how to vote: Voting is only until November 15.

1) go to http://kca.nicksplat.com/ then click vote

2) you can also Text NICK to 2623 to vote (P2.50/txt for Globe and Smart/ P2/txt for Sun per text).

The awarding will be held at the Aliw Theatre on November 29, 2008. See you there!

-Alvin

The rise of the fallen Grace ; HS reunion

Happy Halloween everyone! Ok, so its already November 1 and while everybody else is busy telling their own versions of spook tales, I guess I'll just blog my way out of this spook fest. But I guess lets save that for my next entry. Last October 30, 2008 (Thursday) I attended a reunion with my H.S friends (really now?) Although there we're just 4 of us since the other two are quite busy and the other one has gone missing, still we we're able to pull through. Since it was too early to head out for a night life, Grace and I decided to have a stroll at the mall, eat and do some chit chat (as she fondly calls it that way) As the night draws near and Jewel has already arrived, we went back to our cribs and tried to find a place where we can unwind easily as we sit back and enjoy reminiscing our HS days. When Chelyne arrived we headed to Starbucks Las-piñas since its the nearest place to beat ourselves with stories.

I really don't like to fill myself with coffee during late hours since it keeps me awake up until 5 in the morning and that is not interesting! But still, I did order for an Espresso and yes, Frappe (very unhealthy, I know!)

I have always been addicted to coffee ever since I was a child and if you could only imagine how many cups would I savor within a day, you'll be surprised. But that was before, I'm stopping myself now (yes I really am!)

A fan of Starbucks? Yes I am, but I would go for fruit juices and delicacies now rather than a cup of coffee.

I guess that's it for now, more of my "leisure trips" on my next entries.

-Alvin

Chinky Chickens ; My Ultimate Lunch Pack

I don't get to hang out at Ateneo most of my free time now since I get to "travel" a lot (yeah right!) but every time I do, you'll eventually see me at the stall of Chinky Chickens eating my most favored dish (Chicken Adobo Flakes). Well, they also offer a lot of dishes such as Grilled Chicken with sour cream and Chicken Curry and all of it are exquisite both in taste and in appearance.

So, if ever you get the chance to visit Ateneo (or in their other branch at Miriam College) try Chinky Chickens.

Must Chris thank me for this? Haha, I love this store anyway. The people here are great.

P.S
Visit their multiply site for more info.
http://chinkychickens.multiply.com/
enjoy!




-Alvin

Moon Cake Frenzy ; My Grandmother's B-Day Celebration

I just got home from a reunion planned by my high school friends and it's already 1:30 am. This is the reason why I don't want coffee to fill me in during late hours, but I guess, that's just for my next entry. As I promised from my previous entry, I'll be tackling all about my grand mom's b-day celebration. Actually, there's not much to tell. We ate outside with some of our relatives and taking pictures was the last idea I could have imagine during that time. I forgot the name of the place but it was somewhere in China Town. We get to have a VIP room that could cater around 12 persons and it offers unlimited use of the video-oke(was that right?) which my sister liked the most for that part of the service.

After the quick celebration, I asked my grand mom if she could by moon cakes for me. I was really craving for it and the reasons we're simple, I saw it on TV. The last time I ate a moon cake was during the Moon Cake festival. Chris offered me a slice of it and it was, well during that moment, was the most delicious moon cake ever.

Moon Cake is one of my most favorite Chinese delicacies. Since I grew up in a Chinese - Filipino oriented family, our taste buds roam around Chinese cuisines and delicacies as well (and just like a typical Chinese family, we love to eat a lot!)

You can buy Moon Cakes at China Town located in Manila. We bought our Moon Cakes at Far Eastern Moon Cake (a redundancy of moon cakes)

1 box will cost you around 440 Php. Its worth it once you get to taste it. There are different types of moon cakes or an assortment if you like. Find the one that you like and order in bulks.

P.S

One piece is more than enough to fill you in. So you might want to share a slice with someone else. Enjoy your Moon Cakes!

Krispy Kreme's Ateneo Blue Eagle Doughnut

Whew, its been a while. I have been very busy with a lot of things this past few months. I'm going crazy with this feasibility project designs and stuffs. Sometimes, I wish I could shift to a new course so as to run away from this nerve cracking prototypes and thesis. Anyway, enough of that whining, from today on, there will be major changes in my blog. Since I cant always update myself with the latest craze in the movie industry and on TV shows and sitcoms, I wont be able to post anything here. So, since for the next several months, I'll be moving in and out of different places, I guess I'll be posting some of the few good places and cuisines I have been in and tried all throughout my vacations. Yes with "s" in the end.(and for a minute there it sounded like I have a lot of time.)

For my next entry I'll be posting about my grandmom's birthday but before so, last October 12, 2008; My friends and I decided to watch a movie (and it was a waste of time) at Mall of Asia. Though I'm craving for China Plate's cuisines we have to settle for French Baker since we're running out of time. After the movie I was so surprised to see a poster of the latest flavor the Krispy Kreme team has to offer. Since, as we all know, the Ateneo Blue Eagles won the UAAP championship for men's basketball,(Again, congratulations!) Krispy Kreme thought of a wonderful flavored doughnut made especially for the Ateneo Blue Eagles. It was named (funny) Ateneo Blue Eagle.

Ofcourse, it's the three blue and white sprinkled doughnuts on top. It was delightful to taste but it was also fun to stare at. I hope you guys can still try to buy these limited offers of the Krispy Kreme. Till my next post!

-Alvin

Congratulations Ateneo Blue Eagles!

Ok, It's exactly 2:30 in the morning and I just got home (thanks to Heidi) from Ateneo's Bonfire event. But before so, even though it's quite too late to say this, CONGRATULATIONS to the ATENEO BLUE EAGLES men's basketball team! Deserving? UNDERSTATEMENT! It's theirs to keep anyway. I guess, I'll sleep for now and discuss later on what happened at Ateneo's Bonfire. To give you a hint, it was spectacular. It's something I have never seen before (considering the fact that I am into this kinds of stuffs but never have I experienced this!)

To top it all up, it was star studded (although everyone seems to be waiting for one person only) but never the less, it's just too great but my eyes are slowly closing on it's own so I guess, I'll update you guys later this afternoon.

P.S
Thanks to Heidi and Jam for the ride home. To tita Lianne, sorry, there's just too many. To Chris, thanks! To Chinky Chicken! Yum! and to Ching and m.j , it's a pity that you have to go home early. Thanks to the ateneo community! later! and morning!

Movie Review 1 ( Hellboy II: The Golden Army )

Movie type: Action/Adventure, Horror, Suspense/Thriller
MPAA rating: PG-13:for sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and some language
Year of release: 2008
Run time: 110 minutes
Directed by: Guillermo del Toro
Cast: Anna Walton, David Hyde Pierce, Doug Jones, Luke Goss, Ron Perlman, Selma Blair

Hellboy 2 summary: After an ancient truce existing between humankind and the invisible realm of the fantastic is broken, hell on Earth is ready to erupt. A ruthless leader who treads the world above and the one below defies his bloodline and awakens an unstoppable army of creatures. Now, it's up to the planet's toughest, roughest superhero to battle the merciless dictator and his marauders. He may be red. He may be horned. He may be misunderstood. But when you need the job done right, it's time to call in Hellboy.

I have always been a fan of fictional stories from books and comics turned movie. So when I heard that hellboy has its second sequel lined up in the movie cinema, I rescheduled all my activities just to make space for my hellboy. Hellboy was issued last June on other countries but here in the Philippines, it's almost September yet there's still no sign of the big red ape and his fiery girlfriend(not to mention their fish-like creature bestfriend). But of course, that wont stop me from having my eyes laid on that movie. I was able to watch hellboy 2 from a DVD rip given by my friend (in which I'll give his blog link later on)

Hellboy 2 is an independent kind of a story since you dont have to watch the 1st sequel just for you to understand the story. There are some similarities from the 1st movie with regards to their character (and to my thought they would eventually mature). I wont spoil you guys so I wont tell the rest of the story but I would be giving my critic review for the movie Hellboy 2, so here goes.

Finally, a hero who looks much like a villain himself. Imagine, a scruffy, cigar-chomping, red horned, well, devil. The unusual will always have its way on the interest of the many. Unlike any other hero who can showcase great talent, strength and not to mention "looks", who would have thought that someone like him, can save the world and be a hero?

You don't need to have read the comics or seen 2004's "Hellboy" to play along, but here's the FAQ: Hellboy - actor Ron Perlman under a ton of glazed-ham makeup - is a demon raised from childhood by humans and currently employed by the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense. (It's supposed to be top secret, but Hellboy has a bad habit of turning up on YouTube.)He's short-tempered and sardonic but basically a good sort, keeping his horns sawed off and sharing quarters with girlfriend/human torch Liz (Selma Blair) and an aquatic empath - sort of a Creature From the Psychic Friends Network - named Abe Sapien (Doug Jones). Their job is to keep the occult legions (goblins, trolls, balrogs, you name it) from infesting the human world.The elves, apparently, have had enough of this nonsense. The Kabuki-face Prince Nuada (Luke Goss) overthrows his father (Roy Dotrice) and embarks on a campaign to unleash a crew of unstoppable battle-bots called the Golden Army on mankind. Our heroes are called on to foil him, if Hellboy and Liz can stop arguing about his pet cats overrunning their apartment.

It all sounds terribly silly, and it all plays like a charm, because the cast stays in the spirit (tongue-in-cheek but committed), and because del Toro lets his inner comics-freak rip. The Mexican-born director hit the big time with 2006's "Pan's Labyrinth," but he has always balanced his art-house side ("The Devil's Backbone") with gonzo genre work ("Blade II"), and here the two come close to blending entirely.If you've seen "Pan's Labyrinth," you'll recognize the visual design of the various nasties in "Hellboy" as the product of del Toro's brain and sketchpad: weathered faces lacking eyes, molting wings with eyes, a gargoyle who has a miniature cathedral growing out of his head. There are tooth fairies, but you'd better pray they don't get anywhere near the children.In one scene a gargantuan, plant-like "elemental" stalks lower Manhattan, towering over the buildings like Hieronymus Bosch's rethink of the Jolly Green Giant. When it's wounded, flowers and moss spring up from its blood - a touch of unexpected lyricism amidst the mayhem.Indeed, you may wonder whose side del Toro and his co-writer, "Hellboy" creator Mike Mignola, are on.


The hero's job is to protect us helpless humans, but next to the elves and other eldritch beings, we're made to look puny and small-minded, turning on the big fella with mob fury in one scene. It's not pretty. Worse, it's not very believable."Hellboy" thankfully pulls back before he starts mewling like Peter Parker. Blair's Liz, though, has less to do than in the first film and more emotional water to carry, and the actress doesn't look too happy about it. "Hellboy" is more successful at building a romance between Abe and the villain's twin sister, Princess Nuala (Anna Walton); they're two delicate souls carving out a quiet space (complete with Tennyson verse) between the crashes and ka-booms.Another character I wish we'd seen more of is Johann Krauss, a German paranormal specialist imported by the BPRD to keep Hellboy on a leash. He turns out to be a psychopathic gas - a ghost - inside a diving suit, and he looks for all the world like Darth Vader without a head. Two actors, John Alexander and James Dodd, are credited with his physical movements, but the persnickety Teutonic voice comes from Seth MacFarlane of "Family Guy," who gives the rivalry between retentive Krauss and explosive Hellboy the topspin of classic vaudeville patter."Hellboy II" is bigger, louder, and a smidgen more mainstream than the first movie, and I expect hard-core fans of the comic won't like it as much.

There are signs of tired sequelitis in the personal dilemma Liz faces halfway through, in Jeffrey Tambor's officious BPRD bureaucrat, and in the way the clanky plot outstrips the wit in the final scenes.The movie's rescued time and again, though, by the soulful swagger of Perlman's performance - he plays Hellboy like a smarter Thing or a fully self-actualized Hulk - and by del Toro's flair for the baroque. The filmmaker loves the tatty pop energy of comic books, their speech-balloon dialogue and muscular sense of fantasy. He knows that on the page, as on the screen, you can draw anything and make it spring madly to life.

Well, that's just it. Now, this review is just my opinion, you could just simply watch the movie and enjoy it yourself. Till next movie review!

comments and suggestions are highly appreciated and are welcome in here.

for hellboy 2 DVD rip. You can download it in my friends blogsite, he has a torrent link which can give you an easier task upon downloading the said movie ( http://central-movies.blogspot.com/ )