Epic Time with 30 Seconds to Mars

Breathtaking.

I actually could not find a word that would succinctly describe what I felt the moment Jared Leto walked out onto the stage. I was simply stunned...then I started screaming my lungs out. I never imagined that one day, I would be able to watch 30 Seconds to Mars perform here in the Philippines. It was one of those things that you fantasize about, and then after a while you start to forget about it since the possibility of it coming true is practically zero to none. Well I guess sometimes dreams do come true! (I just have to get the drama out of the way.)

My friends and I entered the concert grounds 15 mins before 8pm. The rain wasn't showing any signs of stopping and I was starting to get soaked even under an umbrella. About 9-ish, when the rain showed signs of slowing down, Kjwan entered the stage and sang 4 songs to open for 30 Seconds to Mars. I like Kjwan; I think they are great. But when you’re soaking wet and standing for about an hour or so and you have nowhere else to sit down, you wouldn't be able to appreciate an opening act as much as you would want to; you would want to see your favorite band start the show instead. In all fairness, Kjw

an performed well. As they stepped out, the local production crew, together with the foreign crew, started to get everything ready onstage for 30 Seconds to Mars.

By then, the excitement was already building up and you could see it from the faces of everyone in the crowd. I was, at that point, praying, wishing, and hoping that 30 Seconds to Mars would match the excitement and hype of their fans, and boy, they didn't disappoint!

The lights went off and Shannon Leto went onstage followed by Tomo Millicevic. The crowd was already jumping up and down wildly by then, and when Jared Leto sang the first line of “Escape”, it went into an uproar! First song and I was already in a daze. (I think my 2 friends actually took a couple of steps away from me, because I was already acting like a total lunatic by that time). We started singing with Jared, much like a live videoke show. “Escape” was followed by one of their popular hits, “A Beautiful Lie” much to our delight.

30 Seconds to Mars's energy was unmatched that night. Jared and the rest of the band showed their fans what PERFORMANCE should really be like. Jared asked us to inch forward, jump up and down, scream loudly, raise our hands up in the air and sing like crazy the entire night. He went on further by humoring us with stories, like it’s good that we came to his show considering that Incubus played the day before (I’ll choose you, Jared, any time over Brandon Boyd!) and how much he likes Filipino food, and that he ate noodles for breakfast. He dished out a few Tagalog words he learned. "IKAW NA!", said Jared. Yes, Jared, ikaw na talaga!

What made it even more perfect for me was Jared stepping out onto the ledge in the rain with the fans. That was amazing. He sang a couple songs on his acoustic guitar (btw, he's a superb guitarist). He asked us to fill in the second vocals for “Hurricane” and "The Kill", while he sang the lead, of which he adorably expressed "That was fucking amazing!".

Afterwards, he told us to shout out loudly for Tomo and Shannon to come back out and rock the rest of the night with us. Shannon and Tomo went out finally to perform “Night of the Hunter”, after whichwe were asked to pump our fist up in the air, while the opening notes of “Closer to the Edge” boom out of the speakers. That was my favorite song out of their latest album “This Is War”, so you can just imagine how crazy I must have looked, jumping up and down, pumping my fist in the air and singing "NO! NO! NO!". Well at least the people around looked as demented as I was. They closed the concert by picking out people (mostly kids, actually) from the crowd and brought them onstage as they sang their encore, “Kings and Queens”.

Each member of the band gave us a different kind of chill that night, from jaw-dropping guitar solos by Tomo, headbang- inducing drumbeats by Shannon and orgasmic vocals from Jared. (He's got an incredible voice; really, I'm not biased here).

In Tagalog, “sobrang linis ng tugtugan nila, parang hindi live!”

It was probably as surreal as stepping into Alice's Wonderland. For me, it was an experience that, “I would never forget, NO NO, I would never regret.” 30 Seconds to Mars made every drop of rain worth it.

*Pictures courtesy of Kris Rocha http://mocharocha.tumblr.com/

Disney Fairy Tales - Rewritten

Due to the alarming obsession I currently have over my Disney Princesses, I started to wonder what the stories would be like, if I were to base it on my experiences.

Beauty and The Beast

No transformation will occur. Beast remains a beast.

Belle: Ayan, kasing sama ng hitsura mo yung ugali mo!

Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs

There's no poison apple and no evil stepmother, only a best friend looking at the mirror, saying over and over,"Who's the fairest of them all?"

*wide smile*

Dwarves: Hi-ho, hi-ho and off to work we gooooo....(one dwarf plunges down to his death)

Snow White: Ang dami mong sinasabi.

Aladdin

While on a magic carpet ride...

Aladdin: I can show you the world, shining shimmering splendid..tell me Princess now when did you last let your heart decide..

Jasmine: (pushes Aladdin off the carpet) Unbelievable sights! Indescribable feeling! Soaring, tumbling, free wheeling...Every turn a surprise!

It's not gonna be a duet, it will never be a duet, It would be a vindictive solo performance.

Lion King

Simba meets Timon and Pumbaa after running away from his home. Timon and Pumbaa help him realize his potential and true destiny, that is, to become the King of Pride Rock. But after years of friendship and support, instead of thanking the two, he would say…

Simba: Masyado kayo nakikialam sa buhay ko.

Timon: Huwaat?!

Pumbaa(Me): *eats Simba*

That little ingrate.

Set against the "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" music backdrop.

Mulan

Pretending to be a boy, Mulan ends up falling for Captain Shang. But when the Captain finds out that Mulan is really a girl, he turned her down. Apparently, Captain Shang likes men. And Mulan is really a confused transvestite.

Little Mermaid

King Triton turned Ariel human, and left her in the world of men all alone. Then, he changed his ocean address so that Ariel won't be able to follow.

King Triton: Kaya mo na yan, malaki ka na naman.

Guess the title should have been, “Big Mermaid”., or “Dugong”, or “Sea Cow”. Or better yet “Free Willy.”

RUMOR MILL:

Prince Eric is currently dating Beast. Mahilig ata talaga siya sa part animal.

Prince Charming of Snow White is seeing one of the Seven Dwarfs. Hush hush still on who among the 7. Clue: The guy's 3ft tall.

Prince Philip who is in a long distance relationship with Aladdin is rumored to have fallen out of love due to the distance brought about by the long VISA application approval status of Aladdin.

And Captain Shang is still in love with the "old" Mulan.

Simba is dead.

*Note: I have no intention of hurting anyone or any nation for that matter. These (particularly the rumor mill) are all done just for fun.

RENT- The Musical

Watch RENT-The Musical on February 20,2011 at Carlos P.Romulo Theater,RCBC Plaza, Makati City.

Tickets:
Balcony: Php 800
Loge: Php 1,700
Orchestra Side: Php 1,700
Orchestra Center: Php 2,000

Watch our own version of the highly acclaimed musical.

Yellowcard Live in Manila Video Teaser

Presented by DAYLY Entertainment

YELLOWCARD LIVE IN MANILA
February 20, 2011
A-Venue Hall, Makati Avenue, Makati City

This is the official video teaser of Yellowcard. Watch them rock A-Venue on February 20,2011!

Tickets are available at all Ticketworld Outlets.

Red Box Disaster

It was a bad night at Red Box Greenbelt last Friday, December 10, 2010. My friends and I are not the type who gets easily annoyed over service fiascoes in establishments we go to. We do understand that there are queues, shortage of goods and manpower, and other common, related problems, and most of the time, we let these things slide. It's part of the business. However, we can only tolerate so much. We wouldn't have expected much, except that Redbox Greenbelt is supposedly a reputable company, and I do believe that we have every right to complain.

First, one of my friends made the reservation for a party of seven, two days prior via telephone. She asked if there's anything else that we needed to do to secure our reservation and Red Box Greenbelt said that there was none, and that we just needed to show up on that day on time. And so, we did. To our immense surprise, upon arrival, we were told that we didn’t have any reservations. NO RESERVATIONS? So ano yun? Multo yung nakausap namin? Ganun? Needless to say we were disappointed, but still calm enough to request priority for the next room available. Luckily a room freed up, so we were accommodated, but that was about to be the best thing we were going to get from them for the rest of the evening.

Our food and drinks came in late. We're not talking minutes here; we're talking HOURS. Dishes were served cold (one was supposed to be CRISPY calamares, not a seafood salad), and came after two HOURS of countless follow-ups. The drinks came after an hour and, to our extreme disappointment, the servers were very rude (Sila pa ang galit, were they kidding me?!). Imagine, we were already hungry and thirsty by then, plus we had to pay for a substandard, highly expensive food, at kami pa ang tinarayan? Wow. We were nothing but polite to them throughout the evening, and that was just plain mean of them.

Next, we asked for glasses of water. After waiting for an hour, and still without water, we finally had enough. We then asked for the bill. My friend asked them to take the calamares out of the bill (How could we pay for a stale food that could not be eaten anymore?) and to please give us the water that we requested 60 minutes prior. Wow, tinaasan pa kami ng kilay nung supervisor. He was the new guy, but the supervisor prior to him was the nice one. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get this new guy’s name, but we do remember his face.

When we asked why it took an hour to bring us the water, one of the servers even managed to deliver a sarcastic "May shortage ho ng tubig kasi." Really?! Were we rude to them? No. We merely asked. If one could not answer respectfully, it’s better if he just keep his mouth shut. Even the bill took 45 mins to get to us. I don't get the problem here. We could’ve just walked and sneaked out of the damn room if we were "sira ulo" (you know what I mean). I seriously don't get it.

It is not acceptable to say that the poor service was due to being undermanned, which is foreseeable given that this is a holiday season and it was a weekend at that. I also understand that they must have been all tired accommodating everyone. But hey, so were we from our own jobs. Everybody's tired, but that's work. Believe me when I say that there are a lot more clients worse and more discriminating than us, and if they at Red Box can't handle the pressure, then they should look for another job. And if one is in a service industry, no matter how tired he may be, there is no excuse and no excuse at all for being rude to his customers. We, the guests, were there (shelling out our hard-earned money) to have a good time. If we just wanted to stress ourselves the way Red Box Greenbelt did, then we ought to have just stayed at our respective offices, where, at least, we would get paid for our trouble.

In the future, if this is the type of service to expect from them, wow, then it is so not worth the money. No more repeats for us nor for our friends.

So far, this is the worst experience we’ve ever had from any establishment. We would have let it slide had the staff been gracious, understanding or a little bit apologetic. Red Box Greenbelt should address this concern. Pwede na malas lang kami at kami ang napagbuntungan ng galit ng mga servers at nagkataon na pangit lang yung service na nakuha namin. Totally understandable, but hey, we’re paying guests. We deserve to be treated decently, at the very least.

In all fairness, I would like to commend Ms. Monica, the supervisor at the time we got in. We spoke with her earlier that time, to air our complaints and she was very apologetic, accommodating and professional. I couldn't say the same about the others.

YELLOWCARD Live in Manila

YELLOWCARD LIVE IN MANILA

February 20, 2010

A-Venue, Makati Avenue, Makati City

Tickets are available at any Ticketworld Outlets.

Prices:

Gen Ad: P1,800

VIP: P3,500

Brought to you by DAYLY Entertainment.

Yellowcard is an American pop punk band known for their hits "Ocean Avenue", "Only One" and "Light Up The Sky". Their latest album When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes is due for release by March 2011.

DOT's "Ugly" Ad

While I appreciate the effort that the Department of Tourism did for the betterment(?) of our tourism logo (No not really, but I'm going to pretend to be very civil about it), a lot of people have aired their complaints about it. For those who say that "Ang hirap sa mga Pinoy, puro reklamo, di muna subukan etc", well that is a valid and acceptable defense. However, I know that when putting up a project, say a business, if the numbers don't look good from the initial run, there is no logical excuse whatsoever to continue with it and say "Malay mo, magpick up eventually". That is just plain idiotic. This is how I see the brouhaha over the logo: If the people's initial reaction, is overwhelmingly negative, then why oh why should it be considered? It's like selling a really good perfume named "Bantot".

It is hard to deny the fact that many of the complaints have bases.

First, the new logo looks so much like the tourism logo of Poland. Really? Whaa--the--why?! The font and the style look so much the same. Adding a smiley face on the tree, changing it from a pear to coconut tree and adding a tree hugging tarsier does not mean that it does not look the same. IT STILL DOES. We still have unsolved issues on plagiarism (that's another story) do we need another? Does plagiarism sound good on TV? Maybe it does; it's becoming a fad.

Second, "Pilipinas Kay Ganda" sounds so much like an afternoon or noontime variety show. What's next? Ask Vice Ganda to do the opening theme for the TV Ad? (I'm a fan of Vice Ganda) Whatever happened to WOW Philippines? I like that. It was cheesy but nice. It sums up the characteristics of our country in just one word. Plus it is catchy. Making a slogan is similar to titling a song; you don't want to put too many words into it. It has to be something that can easily be said and understood, unless you are Celine Dion and you can very well carry the song titled It's All Coming Back To Me Now. (Whew!)

Third, focusing on the domestic market does not necessarily mean that we have to alienate the foreign tourist. We have got to admit that, even though domestic tourists make up the bulk of the tourist arrivals, it is still the foreign tourists who have more dough to spend on tourism. We need their money. So, it would be best if we can try to sell our country using a language that they can understand. DOT argued that they want to attract those who want to learn more about our culture. Yes, that is acceptable, but we are limiting our market. Again we need their money! We cannot limit ourselves to only those who want to learn more about our culture, we also need those who don't give a sh*t and just want to have fun, because that is what travelling is about for most people.

Fourth, at the risk of sounding like a snotty brat, the slogan sounds cheap. There I've said it. You can now throw the stones. But before you do, let me just say, it sounds so cheesy! Are we writing a poem here or something? Is it a title for a new declamation piece for the Linggo ng Wika (Week of the Filipino Language)? Are we aiming for the Kundiman era?

Well I'm running out of reasonable objections without sounding rude and demeaning. I still want to show appreciation for the effort placed in that ad. It must have been really hard to conceptualize a marketing ad, on which the future of Philippine tourism depends, only to be egged at and booed by the spectators.

At least they got feedback early.

**(Last I heard they are pulling out the ad. The advertising company hired to conceptualize the project presented that slogan as a draft, but DOT apparently insisted on releasing it despite objections. Oh well.)