What Will Tyra Say?

I've almost totally freed my self from watching TV, especially TV series, which can be quite addicting. For instance, I watched a couple of episodes of Glee a few months back and I was on the brink of downloading every episode of the show until I realized it could very well be the start of a relapse and on towards a full TV addiction yet again (I used to base my routine around the schedule of Oprah for instance... go on, cringe).

Currently, I watch TV for just about thirty minutes a day. During breakfast, I switch between CNN, BBC, and Chic Channel (the local Fashion TV).

Not that I don't watch TV shows. I'm now following three reality shows.

I watch the new season (is it 16?) of The Amazing Race on AXN. No one can make me leave the house on a Monday evening for fear of missing my still favorite TV show for many years now. I would absolutely drop everything in my life if I could just join this show, even its crappy Asian counterpart (but 80% of their contestants are celebrities so I would not even bother to send an audition tape... but wait, I'm a celebrity, chai mai?).

The current season is already down to its final six pairs. I don't have a favorite team yet, although I'm consistently amused with the cowboys. But then, I don't really watch the show for the participants; I'm rather always looking forward to where they're going to next.

The last episode was shot in Seychelles and practically all of the teams (except for the smart and uber chica lesbian couple) could not pronounce the country's name, much less know where it is on the map. The beauty of The Amazing Race is how it educates people on geography and culture, and largely it encourages us to explore more of the world.

Also mid-season is Project Runway, which is already on its seventh season. Guess what, Heidi is pregnant yet again in this season! If Seal is my husband, I'd be forever pregnant myself!

Anyway, back to Project Runway... there's no remarkable personalities this season (except perhaps for Anthony, who was eliminated in the last episode, unfortunately). Given the lack of distraction, we should be able to focus more on the designs. But the creativity of this season's contestant is nothing groundbreaking. Also, there are way too many sponsored episodes, such as some stupid Garnier, L'Oreal, or HP challenge. Damn, that show has sold itself to the corporations.

There's still of course judges Nina Garcia and Michael Kors, although their acerbic criticisms have become a bit all too familiar, hence, losing their novelty. But that's me.

For the first time, there's Filipino contestant. Jay, from what I remember, is from Hawaii. He has won about two challenges now but lately he had been quite erratic in his outputs, even landing in the bottom two a couple of episodes ago.

I checked the final collections on the internet (which they showed during the latest Fashion Week in Bryant Park), and my guess is Jay is one of the top three contestants. The other, two are Emilio and Seth Aron. In as much as I want Jay to win, my money's on Seth Aron's well-constructed garments and coherent point of view.

Lastly, I'm also watching America's Next Top Model. Who'd have known that Tyra Banks could get away with fourteen seasons of this mindless crap, which, to my knowledge has not produced anything close to a top model yet.

But damn, this is really one of my guilty pleasures and you can kill me now.

This is how you SMIZE, bitches...

Well, what is there to say about this new season... Really, nothing much. It's the same old bitchy girls who are nowhere near becoming supermodels. Half of them do not know what they're doing, aside from a lot of finger wagging and yelling inside the model house. Ahhh, I watch ANTM for those.

And the photoshoots are as mediocre, even as inane, as the previous seasons... exactly the reason why I keep on coming back too!

I wonder why Andre Leon Talley is willing to lend this show his esteemed name, but then, he is not helpful in judging either. If anything, the panel just became yet another circus of personalities.

And Tyra, oh Tyra... what shall we do with you? I just LOVE hating you.

 

Six Hours in the City of Sin

I went out with La Bubbles and Senora Amparo Munoz, as well as the cast of Gossip Girls TS, last Saturday. Because we went home late I opted to sleep at Bubbles' place, not far from the Silom gayborhood, where Senora Amparo also lives (well until yesterday when he was deported back to Las Islas Filipinas).

The girls woke up late on Sunday and the first agenda of the day, at least for Bubbles, was to flirt with the bagets cleaning his air-conditioning unit. Charrring! Well, the real agenda was to get lunch and I was supposed to go back to my riverside shack afterwards.

Anyway, out of the blue, Senora Amparo suggested we go to Pattaya for the day. In a heartbeat, Bubbles and I were up for the Senora's whimsical plan. So within an hour, we were on a two-hour bus ride to Pattaya.

It has been nearly three years ago since I visited Pattaya (see post here) and since then the place never had any appeal to me. Pattaya has a very seedy reputation, you know?

When we arrived there at about 4:30 in the afternoon, the beach was abuzz with weekenders. Since it is Pattaya, there is of course a fair share of gargantuan tourists of the old, balding kind spilling from the beach chairs. And of course the requisite tiny (and most probably) bar girl wrapped around their arms.

As sights like these are not our cup of tea, we went inside the massive Central Mall instead where we watched the sunset. From our seats outside KFC, Pattaya looked very calm and relaxing, a far departure from the debauchery that it is more known for.

An hour later Senora Amparo's friend from Las Islas Filipinas, the charming Miss Chiquita Bonanza, picked us up for some guided tour of Pattaya.We promenaded along the beach-side. The sun had barely set but there were already some ladies (and some ladyboys) lining the walk.

So the packaging de rigueur is black locks all the way to the waist, the tiniest denim shorts, and the most barely-there tank tops. Of course they were perched on their stilettos and a stick of cigarette was clipped between their fingers.

 

We reached Walking Street, perhaps Pattaya's epicenter of hedonism. Unfortunately, we arrived there a bit early, so the bars had just opened and there were hardly any clients.

I remember walking down the same street the last time in Pattaya. I was floored by how blatant sex was sold right there. There were even signs saying "this week many new girls". We were sort of spared of the usual circus in Pattaya this time though, thank god. Instead, we found grilled meat sold on push-carts.

 

From there, Miss Chiquita Bonanza drove us to a restaurant by the sea, quite far from the flashing lights of Pattaya. As mentioned, Senora Amparo was scheduled to go back to Las Islas Filipinas after conquering BKK these past two months, so we had a farewell dinner of sorts for him, which turned out to be a delightful feast of Pattaya's famous sea food.

In as much as we were curious to explore more of Pattaya, we had to go back to Bangkok that night, thus concluding our six-hour visit to the City of Sin.

Into the Lair of the Reds

Anyone following the news about Thailand already knows that the red shirts have shown their force once again. Mostly coming from the rural areas of country, particularly the Northeast, the red shirts claim to represent the voice of the poor, hence, they are in Bangkok to express their discontent on their supposed economic, political, and social marginalization.

Last year, the red shirts also staged a three-month long demonstration that culminated in a violent clash with the military during the Songkran celebrations (Buddhist New Year around April). This time, however, since the three weeks that they started the rallies, they have been generally peaceful.

With the red shirts' violent record, the government is watching them very closely and is making sure that security measures are in place to protect civil offices close to where the demonstrations are. Most of the big roads surrounding the area have been blocked, causing massive rerouting and its corollary traffic congestion.

I'm not spared of the headache of the traffic issues because I live very close to the rally. These past three weeks had been dreadful, especially when I try to leave my area. The buses have stopped plying my neighborhood and only a few taxis brave this part of town. I'm basically at the mercy of the river boat, but its hours of operation are very limited.

Meanwhile, businesses are also complaining of the lower-than-expected number of customers because Bangkok residents choose to stay at home instead (the traffic had been totally dreadful and also there's always the threat of violence) and tourists are skipping Bangkok.

Because of my job, I will reserve my opinion on the whole political situation in Thailand, but I had been curious of the situation in the demonstration site, close to the Democracy Monument, which is just a few minutes' walk from my house. Lara Stone and I finally made the trip there last Saturday.

Above is Lara Stone in the flesh (gasp!) wearing a mask of Thaksin Shinawatra, the exiled former Prime Minister of Thailand, who is supposedly orchestrating the whole red shirt demonstration. It's funny that Lara Stone wore yellow to visit the red shirts' lair. Yellow is the color of the anti-red shirt force. He got out of the demonstration alive, BTW.

We did not find an angry mob, instead the entire area had a festive atmosphere of people clad in red and raising clappers in the shape of a foot. They do occupy a large swath of the roads around the monument, with their main stage set close to the Golden Mount.

Because we went there late in the afternoon to early evening and because it was a weekend, there was quite a huge crowd. Loud music blasted from speakers spread all over the venue. Between songs were speeches by perhaps some movement leaders and regularly pierced by loud cheers from the crowd followed by the shrill explosion of the clappers. Again, it's a peaceful and even organized demonstration.

The latest is, the government, through the Prime Minister, held talks with the leaders of the red shirt movement yesterday. I've yet to update my self if there were agreements, but it seems there is still no end in sight for the demonstrations.

Judging from similar instances in the past, this recent wave of demonstrations and stand-ins could stretch many more weeks, perhaps even months. If there's anything we are thankful for at the moment, the rally had been generally in control.

Into the Lungs of Bangkok

I had a little adventure with Lara Stone last Sunday as we explored Bangkrachao in Phra Pradaeng, the so-called "Lungs of Bangkok". It's not in Bangkok per se, it's part of the province of Samut Prakan, but it's close enough to Bangkok. We spent some time on Google Map to find the area (link to map).

Bangkrachao sits on a kind of peninsula (or is it called a delta?) in the Chao Phraya River. Just across it rises the massive buildings of Bangkok and not far from it one can see a crowd of tall cranes jutting from the Klong Toey port.

Phra Pradaeng (where Bangkrachao is part of), on the other hand, is a verdant, swampy land that is a sharp contrast to the madness of the nearby city. It is called the "Lungs of Bangkok" precisely because it's simply teeming with plants that perhaps rids in some way the city's contaminated air.

We only needed to take a two-minute ride across the Chao Phraya from the Klong Toey pier to Bangkrachao pier where we rented bicycles for the morning. We immediately went on exploration mode. We had no maps of the area (there was a map in Thai in the pier) and there were no English signs either. We followed the two-lane road from the pier and once we found small alleys we ventured into them.

Well, they're not technically alleys but more of ramps, about two meters wide, over the marsh. They meandered around concrete and wooden houses, some of which are standing on stilts as protection from the rising water during the rainy season.

The residents were very friendly, hollering "hellos" from their verandas or giving us directions whenever we got lost. It was a generally genteel atmosphere, with nearly zero commercial spaces except for small stores selling chips and drinks.

The weekend scene in the residential areas were quiet aside from a few screaming kids swimming in the canals. At one time we bumped into a school ground abuzz with the excitement of a soccer game, but other than that it's nearly bucolic all over, obviously a slower pace of life compared with Bangkok.

In our wandering, we tried to avoid the main road so we pursued every ramp we found. We did not have any route in mind and I was just happy to be disoriented completely.

Nearly most of the time ended up in a trove of towering palm trees and bamboos, as well as what looked like fruit orchards. It was nice to be under the cool shade of palm fronds, with only the buzz of insects piercing the stillness of the afternoon.

Lara Stone was of course continuously fascinated by the "wildlife", in particular the tiny fish swimming in the murky water. I swear I could not see the fish but he insists they're there. He also noticed some huge fish raised beside temple grounds (which I saw at least).

Fish aside, there were of course the friendly soi dogs, but dogs in general scare the hell out of me, so I could live without them, thank you very much.

After three hours of biking, we magically found our way back to the pier. I swear I could've rode that bike until sunset, but we had a schedule to stick to. I felt we had more exploring to do, but that should be for next time.

For more articles about Phra Pradaeng, you may check these links to articles on Travelfish, My Krung Thep, Bangkok Day Trips, and Fah Thai Magazine.

Travel notes: To get to Bangkrachao, ask the taxi to take you to Klong Toei Pier, close to Wat Klong Toei Nok (we had to mention the name of the temple to the driver) and from there you can take a small boat, 10 baht. Bicycles are available at the pier in Bangkrachao. Bicycle tours are also offered by tour companies based in Bangkok.

4th Blog Anniversary... Tonight I'm not takin no calls 'cause I'll be dancin'

OMG, I'm blowing four candles for my blog anniversary tomorrow! Like, it has been that looooong? Like, really?! Lady Gaga could only wish her career would last four years and right now I'm SUPER sure she's SUPER jealous of me.

Did I hear it right that I already have like ten readers now? *Blush, blush while holding back tears* What else is there to say but a HUGE thank you to everyone who bothers to subject themselves to my torturous ramblings... you masochist monsters! You know I love you! *Rolls eyes*

So on the fourth birthday of my blog, I'm going to give back to my publique. This post is about YOU, my dear readers. Let's bring the focus to you, because without you I'd just be another little lost soul desperately seeking for affirmation.

Because I dedicate the blog anniversary to YOU, what else is there to do but talk more about... who else but my self!?

I want to get your feedback on this blog, you know. I often wonder what you think of what I write here (the comments do not count because most of those who leave comments are my friends, and are expected to pander to me, chai mai?).

I want to democratize this blog for once - open it to everyone - and give a rare opportunity to my ten readers to speak truthfully (well, as long as they are truthfully nice).

I have three questions for you:

(1) What do you want to see/read MORE in the blog?

(2) What do you want to see/read LESS in the blog?

And... a as a bonus (you know I'm generous, right?)...

(3) Anything you want to ask me???

There, as you can tell the theme of this year's celebration is good-old NARCISSISM. Oh, hasn't that been the theme these past four years? Whatever, really.

So to my readers, DO SPEAK UP (you might not get the chance again once the MTRCB takes over). Who knows I might just answer your pleas! Hahahaha.

Text, "Kawadjan Illusionada " and send to 2366 for Globe and Sun subscribers or 257 for Smart and Talk-and-Text subscribers.

Promo closes next Friday (seriously).

Film Notes: The 2010 Oscar's Best Foreign Language Film and Best Documentary

As mentioned in an earlier post, I've been frantically watching movies these past months (to the detriment of my reading though). I just wanted to catch up on the Oscar-nominated films this year and I still have a couple of films I've yet to watch even if the awards season has officially (sort of) closed last week.

It has been said that the competition for Best Foreign Language Film is oftentimes more interesting than the Oscar's Best Picture. Yesterday I watched the winner of this year's Best Foreign Language Film, The Secret in Their Eyes from Argentina. The strongest element of the film is its acting, especially that of Ricardo Darin, whom I thought was very familiar until I realized he is also in that excellent film XXY.

The Secret in Their Eyes was against Germany's The White Ribbon, which I also saw about a month ago. The White Ribbon was in fact the critics' favorite to win, as well as France's The Prophet. So I was surprised that The Secret in Their Eyes won. I think Germany's entry was stronger; it is far more nuanced and textured, albeit recondite at times as opposed to the accessibility of the film from Argentina.

At the moment I already have a copy of Peru's entry The Milk of Sorrow and in the coming days I shall look for the finalists from France and Israel to round up my Best Foreign Language Film selection.

I've always admired the power of documentaries in bringing to mainstream audiences some of the most critical issues of our time. Remember how An Inconvenient Truth managed to open our eyes to climate change?

Leading to the Oscars last week I squeezed into my schedule the Best Documentary Feature nominees. I have mentioned of course that I already watched Burma VJ several months ago in the Bangkok International Film Festival.

Thanks to torrent, I found Food Inc and The Cove. The latter eventually grabbed the prize on Oscar night.

My heart was of course leaning towards Burma VJ because it's a Southeast Asian film (well, sort of). But there was a controversy over the film as critics allege it's more of a docu-drama (as opposed to the strict definition of a documentary) because many of the scenes in the film were re-staged without the film-makers indicating these specific scenes as such.

Food Inc is an examination of food production in the US, particularly how a few corporations are controlling the industry, hence raising issues on farmers' rights, food safety, and a bevy of other related issues. This is definitely an eye-opening film, but with the sheer number of the issues it tackles the film is bogged down by its lack of focus.

The edge of the The Cove over Food Inc, therefore, is how the former kept its eye on the target, that of exposing the massive dolphin slaughter in one Japanese town. Watching this documentary is akin to watching a detective movie as a group of environmentalists use stealthy documentation to record the grisly carnage taking place in what is seemingly an idyllic location.

I still have a couple of documentaries to download, namely The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers and Which Way Home, so excuse me while I search for them on torrent.

Call for Contributions: Unang Tikim

A close friend who is currently vying for the title Publisher Extraordinaire Ever is going full blast on his pet projects of putting into print contemporary gay writing in Las Islas Filipinas. I'm sooooo proud of the efforts he and his friends have been dedicating to this endeavor, especially because they give Filipino gay men a much-needed louder voice.

On May 1, 2010, Miss Grey will launch not one, not two, but three books written by some of the most prominent Filipino gay bloggers evah. What can be more cool than that, aber? More details about these books will be released soon, so you better watch out mga bading!

Meanwhile, please take note of the announcement below. I encourage you to click on the photo for a larger glimpse of the pecs and the bulbol peeking from the towel, but I also copied the text of the announcement.


What was it like when you first encountered malice in wonderland? Do you remember that first taste?

We are calling for creative non-fiction in Filipino or in English from Filipino men about their first sexual encounter with another man. Selected stories will be compiled into a book and will be published some time this year.

All submissions must have autobiographical basis. Selected contributors will be acknowledged (it's okay if you wish to be anonymous) and compensated. Manuscripts should not be more than five pages, double space. Deadline is April 20, 2010.

Email your contribution to:
greymatter.publishing@gmail.com


Send na ng mga entries mga kapatid sa pananampalataya!!!

Pedestrian Fashion

Look what we have here, my dear kittens. I finally snagged a copy of Facehunter (2010), Yvan Rodic's compilation of street-style photos from his sensational blog Facehunter. This follows the release of The Sartorialist's book, which I'm lucky to have as well, courtesy of Miss Lyka Bergen (happy birthday, dahling).

(Oh, remember my encounter with Yvan Rodic last year when he visited BKK?)

I've always been fascinated with street-style photography (a collection of links is found on this blog's sidebar). More than documenting the style of people from all over the world, street-style photography is also modern portraiture. The photos often express the mood and show the character of the person in front of the camera.

source: Facehunter

I look at these photos as an amalgamation of various elements the photographer captures at a given moment. Say how the subjects gaze into the lens, or how they often twist their ankle out of self-consciousness, which I always find endearingly awkward, or how they glow as light touches their faces.

There's of course their interaction with their surroundings, say in the middle of a pedestrian crossing in Manhattan, or in front of a graffiti-filled wall in London, or outside the fashion shows in Paris.

source: The Sartorialist

Now there's definitely the fashion part of it (hence, street-style). As the photographer filters through a crowd, say in a busy party, he uses an editing eye to spot that person. As such, the photos are ultimately reflections of the photographer's sense of style.

For instance, Facehunter is into the whimsy of young, irreverent urbanites. He puts the limelight on quirky fashion, at sometimes over the top or a mish-mash of contrasting garments and accessories. While The Sartorialist has an eye for classic, ageless style. He is captivated by crisp tailoring, perfect proportions, and subdued fashion. Meanwhile, Jak and Jil zooms his lens on the details such as killer heels and studded belts or bags.

source: Jak and Jil

Thanks to these bloggers, people all over the world are constantly fed with these truly inspiring images. Street-style bloggers (and fashion bloggers in general) even have become prominent fixtures in the front-rows of major fashion shows during the past two or three seasons.

This is a clear testament of the strong power street-style bloggers are wielding, at least for the moment. I suppose book deals like The Sartorialist and Facehunter are the crowning glory to the success of these street-style bloggers.

[Just a side note, Garance Dore, Tommy Ton of Jack and Jil, Yvan Rodic, and the Philippines' own Bryanboy (among a few other fashion bloggers) are in this month's American Vogue.]

Karl Lagerfeld's Secret

Talk to my 24-inch waistline, dahling...

Monkey Business

I just came back from a three-day trip from Lopburi and Ayutthaya. As mentioned in the last post, Thailand had a long weekend to celebrate a Buddhist holiday so Lara Stone and I decided to escape from the city. The plan was to find a place where there are potentially less tourists and that is not too far from Bangkok.

Three hours by train is Lopburi, a city known for its Khmer-style temples and the monkeys inhabiting many of these ancient sites. We saw the first signs of monkeys when we noticed three tails hanging from electrical wires in the middle of the city. As we went nearer Lopburi’s main temple, the number of monkeys around us grew.

They were casually walking around the city: picking on garbage, hanging from street signs, huddling inside phone booths, and sitting on top of cars. Some females were carrying baby monkeys on their bosoms and a few strong-looking males with longer fur seem to lead packs. Sadly, many of the monkeys do not look healthy, with patchy skin, and some had missing eyes and even limbs.

The magnitude of the monkey’s presence in the city dawned on me when one time I looked up and there were dozens of our simian friends of various sizes staking their claim on one side of the building.

They were just hanging there, watching the world go by, occasionally scampering quickly all over the facade, and making these shrill sounds.

It was a truly creepy and amusing sight. It looked like the city had been taken over by monkeys, a good material for a horror film.

Many of the buildings surrounding the main temple were wrapped in metal screens to block the monkeys from going inside the buildings. I also noticed a good number of buildings in that area had been abandoned, perhaps because the monkeys were too much of a nuisance already.

And indeed the monkeys were EVERYWHERE. One time we saw a pack of them – probably about seventy-five strong – crossing the street and totally oblivious to the traffic. The vehicles had no choice but to stop and wait for the monkeys to clear the street, who always seem to take their time.

Some of the monkeys were even brave enough to hop on cars AND hop from one moving car to another. Crazy, no? It was total pandemonium as monkeys exploded on a fighting spree in the middle of a busy street or humped on each other in broad daylight. Many were just happy to swing between electric wires.

There were too many of these creatures scurrying around, doing whatever they want to do like they bloody own the town! I wonder if the citizens of the city find the monkeys as pests or as objects of curiosity.

Fortunately, the monkey population is only concentrated around the Khmer ruins close to the train tracks (as far as we can tell). They are fed there as well. The rest of the town is pretty much monkey-free, say in the temple or the market, although still a few of them manage to wander around.

We hopped on a train headed to the ancient capital of Ayutthaya the next day. Both Lara Stone and I had seen the city’s ruins before so we just decided to chill in the guest house beside the river. From the train station, it was quite a drive from the city center but it was worth it as the place had a remote feel to it.

Just outside our bungalow is the Chao Phraya, perhaps Thailand’s main river way. The river was abuzz with small boats tugging humongous cargo hulls attached to one another, sometimes as many as five of them. The drone of these tug boats was the only sound we could hear, otherwise, the chirping birds give the place an ambience of being surrounded by nature.

The guest-house had a charming restaurant cantilevered over the river. Lara Stone was delighted to find out they serve deep-fried native chicken. The restaurant is quite popular among the Thais, which it quite deserves if only it were a bit cheaper.

Most of the time we sat in the porch, read, and shared a bottle of beer as the sun set behind the trees.

Travel notes:

Lopburi

• Getting there: Trains leave Hualamphong train station every 30 minutes or so (27 baht, 3 hours).
• Place to stay: Found in the middle of the city is Nett Hotel, 036411738, which has the most basic facilities. Very friendly staff and convenient location; with fan and air-conditioned rooms (800 baht up).
• Things to do: See ancient monuments and old palaces.
• Tip(s): See the market first thing in the morning. Food stalls set up near the train station in the evening.

Ayutthaya

• Getting there: Trains leave Hualamphong train station every 30 minutes or so (from 14 baht up, 1 hr 45 mins).
• Place to stay: Chow Praya Hut, 035398200, www.chowprayahut.com, is about ten kilometres away from the train station. A tuk-tuk will take you there for 200 baht. The place is very basic, but the riverside location is charming, although it can get busy as well no thanks to the cargo boats. The restaurant staff, who also manages the guest house, is very friendly but speaks practically no English. Also, for some reason the English menu comes sans prices, so always ask for the price of the food you order or be prepared for a surprise when your bill comes. The food is a cut above the rest though.
• Things to do: Ayutthaya is replete with ruins that are worth a day trip or even more. If you choose to stay in the Chow Praya Hut, the monuments are a long drive.