Of Giving
November 26, 2008
We Filipinos are by nature kind to our household help unless (if the rumor is true) you are Korina Sanchez. And kindness is always rewarded.



Erikina, whose housekeeping services barely afford her diurnal canned fish and noodles supper went through the trouble of weaving bilums for me. These bilums probably cost her and her family a days’ meal yet she even bothered with a wrapper. It wasn’t my birthday. And they are not early Christmas presents either. She said they are her tokens of thanks.



I castigated myself for offering to pay for the bilums since it wasn’t her intention to consummate a sale. She was purely giving.

Talk about reeling-in big inspirations from the humblest of ponds. Erikina is illiterate and may not be able to spell magnanimous but even she knows that Oxford couldn’t educate us to be one. Heaven bless her!

May we meet more Erikinas and less of them yacht-owning, popper-sniffing pretentious queens who have posh apartments in several countries and travel first class only but their idea of giving is mostly to their fat selves.



P.S.
I didn’t want her to miss dinner. I gave her extra plus extra bus fare.

Labels:

posted by Bryan Anthony the First at 11/26/2008 | 33 comments

Of Ex's
November 19, 2008
BFF insists that I write about the not so recent tragedies suffered by my consistently calamitous romantic life but there is nothing to write about.


We’ve all heard, read, seen, experienced this classic break-up template; one takes himself the victim of a cruel conspiring world and the other—the mastermind of it all, set and smeared with the details of typical novella the materials of which are better hidden from GMA or ABS least they corrupt it into another tacky D-rate melodarama (and heaven forbid, starring Ara Mina).



Unfortunately for BFF, both calamities are sooo of this model. So, there’s nothing unprecedented for a little show and tell.


I echo BFF’s words: “I need to survive to keep living because I want to find out how my story ends”. That is exactly what I intend to do. Thing is bes, melancholy is losing its voice here at Bryan’s. But I promise we’ll chat about it, over coffee in Bali perhaps?


I am not a very religious person, but I love Jesus. And I never fail to thank him for all the good things in my life. When you lose men who turned out to be worse than mad dogs, then there’s no arguing that that is a super blessing. So, thank you, thank you.

Labels:

posted by Bryan Anthony the First at 11/19/2008 | 27 comments

Of Obama and Miss Earth
November 11, 2008
Dear BFF,


I’m sorry but I decided against writing about Obama’s election to the presidency or Jon Santos’ recent change of civil status.


I simply couldn’t get anything organized after the Miss Earth coronation night. And it has nothing to do with the winners. Carousel has been running this gig for 6 years now. And that’s enough grace period for them to deal with the rough edges. Their pageant is still a cheaper version (technical and production-wise) of the bigger Trump-ran one. I know all these sound gay but I really find it annoying.


I know you’ve decided not to watch Ms. World and Miss Earth ever again. Harsh ka.


I, however, in the same spirit of the symbolism a black president-elect brings to an ailing empire, hope again. So I’m giving Miss Earth a few more chances. They probably need a bigger budget for a better than Walang Tulugan set for a stage, 75 watt-bulb lighting, pseudo-wide screen and town fiesta choreographers. They better start mag-caroling now for next year’s pageant.


By the way here are the dresses you asked me to pick for you to wear for Obama’s inaugural.





At kung feel mo magluksa sa outcome ng Proposition 8...




Monique Lhuillier Spring 09

Speaking of dresses... sana may dress code na sa live audience sa next na Miss Earth pageant. No t-shirts please.



i remain,

bes bryan

Labels: ,

posted by Bryan Anthony the First at 11/11/2008 | 34 comments

Book Twist October 2008
November 07, 2008
The Silmarillion



Do you remember the giant spider that lost his Frodo Meal to the orcs? Tolkien didn’t just throw in that character into the trilogy for suspense effect. Darn web spinner is an offspring of Ungolianth who together with Morgoth stole the silmarils from the guardianship of the Valars. The salvaging of the robbed jewels is what this Genesis to the masterpiece The Lord of the Rings is all about.

Tolkien’s The Silmarillion presents the mythological beginnings of what would eventually be dubbed Middle-earth and briefly tackled the forging of the one ring and its destruction at the fiery pits of Mt. Doom.

[He then proceeded to expound the ring part into a three-part story (The Fellowship of the Ring (1954), The Two Towers (1954), and The Return of the King (1955)) which, with the help of an Orlando Bloom bookmark, took me three months to read.]

As for the twist part, I bought my copy from a second hand shop and it is a rather curious one with its pages sprayed of ancient stains that CSI NY (not SOCO ha) would certainly take interest on. I mean, it is a very good read except for the millions of similar sounding names.

Labels:

posted by Bryan Anthony the First at 11/07/2008 | 20 comments

POM I-GLITTERATI SERIES: PAY COMEDY
November 04, 2008


Survey says that Vice Ganda is the least congenial funny man Port Moresby ever met. During his post-show appearances (dinners, etc) everyone noticed that he was rather withdrawn and gloomy and his smile was as genuine as an LV bag from Greenhills. He’s probably tired, pregnant or stuffed with bf’s financial issues but for us non-celebs it simply felt good to assume he’s a snob.


People’s take on him saddened me a big deal since I am a fan of Vice’s work. Many will agree that Vice is the funniest and wittiest stand-up act of the moment.

I talked to people who were with him most of the time and this info reached me. POM socialites whisper a tragic tale about Vice and two other lesser talents and their supposed US$ 7,000.00 fee. The apparent tragedy is Vice Ganda’s PhP 50,000.00 share.

There’s more on the tale than I care to share. Enough that I remain a Vice fan. Besides, I am not certain all this talk is true.

My word! A new whisper just came in. The people involved with his show…they aren’t so friendly to each other anymore. Trouble with the exchange rate?
posted by Bryan Anthony the First at 11/04/2008 | 21 comments