My West Side Story

I'm no stranger to West Side Story, having watched it countless times on film and stage. My first taste of this wonderful musical was when I was in high school, with my schoolmates as casts. I fell in love with it since. So when my cousin informed me that a friend of hers got me a ticket to STAGES' West Side Story (yesterday's show), I was thrilled. It's no Broadway, but I know I'll be getting performances equal to it.

The musical is to be shown at the Meralco Theatre, running from September to October of this year. Tony, the main man, is played by Filipino balladeer Christian Bautista, while Maria, the lead actress, is played alternately by local singer-actress Karylle, and London West End's Joanna Ampil (a Filipina who has starred in musicals in London). The theatre-going public won't know who plays Maria until the start of the show. Mine had Karylle on it.

The STAGES production of this awesome musical was breath-taking. They really placed a lot of effort into the set, everything was just spectacular. The play does not require a big stage; the charm of it is its being performed beautifully in a compact setting, and this the production was able to magnificently do. They utilized each prop to its fullest extent. Music was superb; lighting was phenomenal; even the costumes were patterned as closely as possible to the movie.

And now, the casts. There was amazing dancing like never before seen on stage, and impressive performances from all concerned. I'm not that blown away by the singing of Karylle and Christian Bautista, though. The songs may be challenging for them, with high notes and all, but well, they were tapped to perform this musical, weren't they? I mean, they should have known the vocal prowess and range that the songs entailed. At any rate, it was a wondrous experience for me.

P.S. The picture is courtesy of Clickthecity.

Power Lunch

Unknown to me, a friend and my cousin planned Sunday's lunch with an agendum in mind: putting up our business. I will not talk about our business plans on this blog, not yet, anyway. When our plans have been realized, then that will be the only time I will write about it...everything about it. What I'll ramble about though is the lunch.

Lunch was at Som's, a small cafeteria-like establishment, located in Makati. I'm not really sure of the location of the other branches, but since my friend lives at Gloria Street, somewhere near Rockwell, we went to the one located quite near her place, a walking distance, in fact. Surprisingly, the place is famous for its authentic Thai cuisine, but it is far from those high-end restaurants one sees at the heart of the Business District. For one, as mentioned earlier, it looks like a cafeteria. Second, it's quite small, although they've set up tables and tents outside for that refreshing outdoor dining. Third, it's cheap. Seriously. For exquisite Thai dishes, and hefty servings, the price is waaay satisfactory.

We had Tom Yam, said to be the most famous soup dish;

Pad Thai, a dish of stir-fried rice noodles, garnished with various other goodies ;

Red Chicken Curry, and rice topped with beef. For drinks, both had Thai tea, and I had the usual, water.

Everything was delightfully delicious. I'm not a fan of Thai dishes, as I know them to be heavy on the chili, but the ones at Som's are alright, spicy-wise. I really enjoyed the Red Chicken Curry, and the Pad Thai. I loved the creamy sauce of the Curry dish, and I liked the way the sweet-sour blend of the Pad Thai tickled my palate. I'm not quite sure about the Tom Yam, but then one has to consider that I'm not that into soup recipes anyway. Although I've got to say that it's my cousin's favourite and that's saying a lot about the dish, as my cousin usually is hard to please when it comes to food.

Som's is definitely a place worth visiting again and again, and again.

P.S. The pictures are courtesy of Wikipedia, as I forgot my camera so could have done the pictures myself.

Camera Frenzy

Finally, I got my very own pocket digital camera: a Canon IXUS 90 IS.

My aunt sent it through her colleague from the UK. It costs 199£, which is fairly cheap because I got a free 4-gig memory card. Good deal, I say. Compact and light, the 90 IS measures 91.6 x 56.8 x20.9 mm (3.61 x 2.24 x 0.82 in.) and weighs approximately 155 g (5.47 oz.). Sleek designs it has too. The LCD monitor is a 3.0-inch type, low-temperature polycrystalline silicon TFT color LCD (wide viewing angle type), approximately 230,000 dots (picture coverage rate 100%). What blew me away though was the approximately 10.0 million camera effective pixels, which guarantee quality pictures. After looking through the camera the night before, I was thrilled to find that there are numerous shooting modes built inside it, like Sunset, Foliage, Snow, and even Underwater...I just need to buy myself the waterproof case. There's a Stitch Assist, which will help you come up with panoramic shots. And Color Accent, which is great for those close-up shots of nature's wonderful works. Plus, there's a feature that lets you shoot moving images without the blur, which is great because you don't expect your subject to stay still for you, not when it's a jumping kangaroo. There are a lot more features that I can't utilize in one go, but I'll be sure to find uses for them.

I've always wanted to have my own camera, as I want to travel and splendidly document my travel. Or simply click on whatever will catch my fancy. I really saved up for this and I can't wait to try it out. I will be posting some of the pictures I get through the 90 IS as I blog along...

Till then.

Culture Shock

Annually, the school I attended for my primary and secondary education produces shows, in celebration of the conversion of the Saint after whom she was named. The shows range from plays to concerts, but majority were plays. I've seen Les Miserables and West Side Story, and I even joined the cast of a Filipino play, Walang Sugat. When I was in College, I was able to see a different kind of 'play'...the play which didn't have music and dancing in it; rather, the issues were relayed through angst-driven dialogue and acting.

Lately (read: probably two months ago), a friend invited me and my cousin to watch Avenue Q. I was introduced to a whole new style of theatre. The play was acted out by puppets, with their puppeteers on stage, to be seen by the audience. It was fun watching both the puppet and puppeteer together, and while I ended up watching the puppeteer, there were a few moments when I caught the puppet's acts. I commend the talent of the puppeteers, considering that they, themselves, had to act, but they didn't, even for a second, forget that this was the puppets' show. The action and reaction of the puppets perfectly mimicked those of their puppeteers. The songs were wonderfully funny; I especially liked If You Were Gay and It Sucks To Be Me. My personal favourite was There's A Fine, Fine Line. The play's cut into two parts. I was entertained for the whole first part; I found the second part a bit dragging. All in all, an entertaining show.

After the play, we grabbed a quick dinner at Bacolod Chicken Inasal, as it was the only establishment we found open at that time of the night. I had the Ysabella's Chicken, a dish made popular by the local television drama series Ysabella. It consisted of chicken inasal, garlic rice, and I think there was a veggie side dish, I don't really remember. Tasty dish, by the way. This restaurant is where I go to for my dose of chicken inasal. I frequent the branch located at Quezon City Circle. Now some of you may be asking what the heck is chicken inasal (those who aren't from my country, anyway)? Simply put, it's grilled chicken on a bamboo skewer. I don't recall what my cousin and my friend had, but I do remember we likewise had chicken skin. Never mind the calories; the dish was super delicious.

Yesterday, my cousin, a friend, and I were awed by Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella, which starred no less than Lea Salonga. It has been my lifetime wish to be able to see Lea Salonga perform onstage. I'm glad to have had that wish fulfilled. First, the play itself. It's Cinderella, in every sense of the word, with a few minor forgivable changes. Second, the production. The costumes were a-ma-zing! The set was a sight to behold. The carriage that brought Cinderella to the ball was so elegantly designed you would really think it was transformed magically. Finally, the cast. World-class performance from world-class performers. I need not say more. But let me gush for a few more lines about the wonderful voice of Lea Salonga. I could listen to her sing all day! Her voice was so powerful and crystal clear. Needless to say, I loved the play. Incidentally, the play was shown at the Cultural Centre of the Philippines.

We wanted to get a Program of the play, but upon being greeted with various Cinderella merchandises, we ended up being confused as to what to bring home as souvenirs. I got myself a CD of the play, with the Original International Tour Cast. My companions wanted to have the shirt, but the price was way beyond their budget. As we ventured to every corner of the room, my friend and I approached the table selling Lea Salonga's CDs from way back. I immediately searched for her Christmas Album and found the song I had difficulty downloading: Even Santa Fell in Love. Finally, I have the song. Her Christmas Album contains a good selection of Christmas songs, including my favourites ever.

Before the play, we had lunch at Pancake House. The dishes at this restaurant are sumptuous, and their steaks are mouth-watering. The only complaint I have is the price, too exorbitant for such small servings. After the play, we had a nice, relaxing snacks at Icebergs. Initially, my companions were already craving for Halo-Halo. We had a good five-minute debate between Icebergs and Razon's but since my palate is an Iceberg virgin, we opted for the former. We each had a special Halo-Halo (crushed ice with a mix of gelatin, corn flakes, slices of banana, and yummy other ingredients I couldn't decipher; all bathed in creamy milk and topped with scoops of ice cream), and a clubhouse sandwich. Nothing special about the sandwich; but the Halo-Halo was heavenly. And there were no beans! Which I consider really wonderful because I hate beans. Chowking's Halo-Halo has all sorts of beans so I'm not really a fan.

Two Sides

It is a quiet Sunday afternoon, one I've never had in a long time. I'm seated in front of my computer, contemplating on starting one of the pleadings lined up in my to-do list. But I'm putting it off to spend time with someone, and our talk led to men and women...always two sides, he says.

This statement reminded me of one of my favorite poems, Victor Hugo's Man and Woman*. The title says it all, doesn't it?

Man is the most elevated of creatures; Woman, the most sublime of ideals.
God made for man a throne; for woman, an altar.
The throne exalts, the altar sanctifies.
Man is the brain. Woman, the heart.
The brain creates light; the heart, love. Light engenders. Love resurrects.
Because of reason, Man is strong. Because of tears, Woman is invincible.
Reason is convincing; tears, moving.
Man is capable of all heroism; Woman, of all martyrdom.
Heroism ennobles; martyrdom sublimates.
Man has supremacy; Woman, preference.
Supremacy is strength; preference is the right.
Man is genius; Woman, an angel.
Genius is immeasurable; the angel, undefinable.
The aspiration of Man is supreme glory. The aspiration of Woman is extreme virtue.
Glory creates all that is great; virtue, all that is divine.
Man is a code; Woman, a gospel.
A code corrects; the gospel perfects.
Man thinks. Woman dreams.
To think is to have a worm in the brain; to dream is to have a halo on the brow.
Man is an ocean; Woman, a lake.
The ocean has the adorning pearl; the lake, dazzling poetry.
Man is the flying eagle; Woman, the singing nightingale.
To fly is to conquer space; to sing is to conquer the soul.
Man is the temple; Woman, the shrine.
Before the temple, we discover ourselves; before the shrine, we kneel.
In short, Man is found where the Earth finishes; Woman, where Heaven begins.

*