I Heart 'Cheeze Looker'

Among the many Thai magazines I love, I never fail to buy the monthly issue of Cheeze, the magazine covering street style in Bangkok (see previous entry). In December 2010, Cheeze released the first issue of the exclusively male street style magazine, Cheeze Looker (see Facebook page).

I can't be more thrilled!

Bangkok's men are no doubt as fashionable as the women here; and with such a wealth of stylish men around, why not devote a separate magazine for them, chai mai? I guess among the young men in this city, when they pay attention on how they look they don't think they're being robbed of their masculinity. Cheeze Looker is, thus, a celebration of the fashionably daring Bangkok man.

Over the years, I observed that K-pop is the reference for Thai fashion, men's fashion included. Think of how a typical Korean pop star is styled: spiky hair, skinny jeans, dark colors, and pointed shoes. The weakness of the fashionable people in Bangkok is they also tend to get trendy. There are easily dozens and dozens of these men walking around Siam Square looking like they come from the same K-pop cookie cutter.

And then late 2009 through the rest of 2010, men sported the dorky look (I don't know how else to call it really). Basically, button down shirt, tapered pants and folded a few inches above the ankles, and some leather shoes sans socks. I'm still seeing plenty of them around until now; and honestly, it's the easiest way to tell who's gay. (Samples are found below.)

Fortunately, Cheeze Looker's editors and photographers know exactly the hackneyed looks. There is barely space for such non-original styles (well, there are a few cliches here and there). Overall, the magazine features lots of quirky and unique looks, with lots of individuality and experimentation.

I love the nonchalance of these men on the pages of Cheeze Looker; proof that style is not what you're wearing but how you wear the clothes.

On top of documenting the zeitgeist on the street, Cheeze Looker is also a style guide through its editor's picks. And like Cheeze, it also functions as a shopping guide, thus, making the magazine indispensable for those who are keen on exploring the fashion scene in the city.

Oscar Blues

Let me get this out of the way first... I LOVE TORRENTS. I mean, what is there not to love about it? I download everything these days such as America's Next Top Model, Project Runway, and The Amazing Race. And of course some of the latest albums as well.

I even use torrent as a verb now. Like, I torrented Regine Velasquez's Narito Ako album. Example lang, tse!

And thanks to torrents I have been able to catch up on the latest movies that haven't been shown in the cinemas yet.

So tomorrow the Oscar nominees will be announced and I thought I'd say my piece about those so-called Oscar "hopefuls". No, this is not my prediction, after all, I'm sooo not good at being a Madam Auring. Neither are these the best movies I've seen in 2010.

Let's just say I'm going to share my thoughts and impressions on those movies predicted to figure prominently (or already have) this awards season.

And yes, these are ranked, so let's start.

13) Social Network

Thin characters. The movies good, but I won't say it's spectacular... far from it, in fact. And wait, Justin Timberlake? Enough reason for me not to like this movie.

12) 127 Hours

Ugh. This movie is painful to watch for obvious reasons. I had to watch some sections of it as a thumbnail. I even put it on mute. The cinematography is good though, and what is there not to like about James Franco, aber? Other than that, this is just another hyper-stylized Danny Boyle movie.

11) Inception

The script, I think, is clever. And I like Marion Cotillard, Ken Watanabe, and Joseph Gordon Levitt. The music by Hans Zimmer is annoying, it just never stopped. Besides, I don't do action films. I tend to sleep through them, including this one.

10) Toy Story 3

I missed half of this film because I slept through it, too. By the time I woke up the credits were rolling. But from what I've seen of the first half, it was quite charming. I'm still thinking of watching this again. But maybe not because just like action movies I don't like animated ones either.

9) Black Swan

This scared the hell out of me, so in that sense the movie worked for me. Still, the reviews raised my expectations and ultimately I was disappointed. I think this movie is just too hysterical for my taste. I'm not even impressed with Natalie Portman. Well she danced her ass of, so what? Dancing is not acting, love. Her performance is basic. *shrugs shoulders*

8) Rabbit Hole

I'm a sucker for film adaptations of stage plays. The story is obviously touching, the characters are well-explored, and Diane West is stellar in it. But I was distracted by Nicole Kidman's lips. This role was not for her AT ALL. I can see fellow Aussie Naomi Watts doing it best, but not Nicole's over-bloated lips.

7) The Kids are All Right

This I love a lot! Julianne Moore and Annette Bening are perfect for the roles of the lesbian couple. It has a funny script too for such a seemingly sensitive topic. Things were kept very light-hearted while having a good grasp of "modern" and "un-traditional" families.

6) The Fighter

The acting in this film is its strongest asset. I would be damned if Melissa Leo and Christian Bale don't win the supporting actress and supporting actor trophies (duh, respectively). Even Amy Adams made a surprising tough girl act. The weakness of this film is its predictability, like, underdog wins big time, blah, blah, blah.

5) The King's Speech

This one also has a strong cast. While Colin Firth is fantastic in the role of King George VI, Geoffrey Rush stole my heart away. Too bad Christian Bale is going to win this year (well, Geoffrey Rush already has an Oscar anyway). The cinematography and production design also capture well the period. While the movie is a good character study of a leader in crisis, the way it's told, however, is conventional.

4) True Grit

Two words: Hailee Steinfeld. Who's that gurrrl? The first time she came on screen I was dumbfounded. And by the time the movie ended I wanted to bequeath to her my sticker collection from the 80s. She carried that movie and without her I would've just slept through it again. (I don't have an appetite for another drunk Jeff Bridges.)

3) Winter's Bone

Now this is how you do a triumphant combination of character study and unconventional story-telling. The plot is in fact simple, but there's so much texture in the characters and their motivations are clear, yet, not simplistic. And dear god, thank you for sending us Jennifer Lawrence! Please don't turn her into a Miley Cyrus.

2) Never Let Me Go

This is the movie I had been waiting for through 2010. I worship the book it was adapted from and the movie certainly did not disappoint. I'm rarely satisfied with film adaptations of books I love but this definitely did justice to the Kazuo Ishiguro masterpiece. OK, obviously I'm biased why I love the movie, but how can I help enthusing over it when it captures so well the chilling atmosphere of the novel? Love the acting of Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley as well.

1) Blue Valentine

I did not have high expectations from this film, after all the critics are not exactly having orgasms writing about it, although they heaped generous praises on it as well. Let's say it's not exactly the movie everybody's talking about. But for me, this is easily the one of most mesmerizing movies I've seen lately. Perhaps it's the heartfelt performances of Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. Wait, I think they did a phenomenal job in the movie. Its strongest element, however, is the writing. The characters are so richly-explored and the pacing of the story (with the use of interwoven time frames) brings out the dilemmas and evolution of the husband and the wife very well. It is intimate and believable; and ultimately, without cliches, it tells us that nothing is quite simple in relationships.

When I was 10

I saw him today. On Facebook. My first boy crush. Instantly, I was brought back twenty years ago when I was in Grade 5, when I started getting attracted to boys, and, well, I never looked back since then.

I do find it amusing that the catalyst for my affection for boys/men was no other than him.

He was a transferee from a different province, so, right from the very first day of Grade 5 he immediately caught everyone's attention. He was the typical tisoy boy (I marveled at how light-brown his hair was), with an easy confidence, and speaking with an Ilonggo accent (in fact he spoke Tagalog with and Ilonggo accent). Not long after he arrived in school, every girl had a crush on him. He was, of course, voted as the Escort for the grade level that year (yes, we voted for Muse and Escort in school... argh).

Let's call him R. I remember I could not look straight at him, or just feeling awkward whenever he was around. But I could not stop stealing glances at him as well. You know those weird things we do when our crush was around? Yun.

It did not bother me that I'm a boy having strong feelings for another boy (OK, a stupid crush). I was in a Catholic school, but I never felt guilty for the attraction, although I did not tell anyone about it either.

One time, we went on a field trip. The night before the trip, I prayed the rosary, specially asking Mother Mary for R and I to sit together on the bus. I bloody swear I did. And somehow the prayer worked because the next day we sat beside each other. I was ecstatic, needless to say; I even offered him my Hi-C, which he refused.

I wonder if indeed I eventually became a bit obsessive over him because at one point I started talking aloud to my self, pretending he and I were having a conversation. It lasted one summer break.

In Grade 6 he was moved to another class. He was elected Escort of Grade 6, naturally (ugh). Anyway, that meant I did not have enough chance to interact with him except in drafting class when all the boys of the same grade level would have a class on drawing and wood work and all that macho shit, separate from the girls who were taught sewing and embroidery. By then, his mystique has dissipated from me; I realized he's not that smart after all, and in fact he became a part of the gang of naughty boys. Big disillusionment!

In high school I noticed him around campus, acting some sort of a leader of those jocks that excelled in basketball (what else?) but kept on getting caught in fights with boys from other schools. By then, I completely lost interest in him. (I became asexual in high school.)

And then in second year high school he got one girl pregnant. They were both thirteen. The girl was also in the same high school. She had to stop going to school for a year as a result of the pregnancy. R, of course, continued going to school where his friends started calling him Tatay (Daddy), a title he seemed to carry with pride, despite having no role in raising the baby.

Years later, after my university years, I bumped into him on Siargao Island where he seemed to live a surfer lifestyle, or pretty much being a bum. When I saw him, it struck me that he was not as gorgeous as I thought he was... or say, he was not as gorgeous as when I first saw him.

So today I saw him on Facebook. Stalking his other albums, there are photos of his wife and daughters. I stared at his photos, trying to trace, and recollect, his features when he was ten years old. Doing that did bring me back to memories of how stunning he was, or at least how I perceived him then.

New Year in Laos

I was Laos when the clock turned midnight on new year's eve. My Filipino friends and I barely made it to the fountain where the countdown took place because we were so caught up in some chitchat in a nearby cafe in Vientiane. The fountain was packed with revelers, with quite a good number of Thais on holiday and Western tourists.

But half an hour into 2011, the plaza was slowly getting empty, while we looked for alternative venues for some dancing, but alas it was sleepy Vientiane after all, so we too went back to the hotel, walking in the deserted streets of the city with a chilly air blowing from the banks of the Mekong river.

I was in Vientiane for a workshop, which ended on 30 December, so, I decided to stay a few more days to spend the New Year there. Laos has always been so charming, with its gentle people and dramatic landscape. And of course, who can resist drowning one's self with Beerlao, the best beer like EVAH!

I swear Laos is one of my favorite countries in the region. Other than Vientiane, I have been to Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, and Champasak on previous holidays. I'm always impressed how Laos relaxes me like no other place; perhaps it's too much beer or because life is just absolutely laid back there and the people are very polite, with wide, beaming, and sincere smiles.

On New Year's day, I hopped on a bus to Vang Vieng. Vang Vieng is like the hub of young backpackers in Laos and is famous for its water tubing, parties by the river, endless drinking, and some drugs, I heard. It's not exactly a place to find a quiet time in; you just cannot escape the endless thumping of techno music, drunken revelry, and replays of Friends in the many restaurants in the middle of the town.

However, Vang Vieng definitely still has quiet parts, especially if you venture out to the fields, go inside caves, or find a peaceful spot on the river banks while watching its always splendid sunsets.

This is the peak of the tourist season though, so, having some peace and quiet is the last thing can one expect. Luckily, I snagged the last room in a cheap guest house by the river (a little less than 8 USD). Unluckily, it was freezing in Vang Vieng, and freezing I mean something like, I don't know, perhaps 20 degrees in the evening. Again, I have to remind you that I'm a tropical bayot and anything less than 27 degrees is automatically winter for us in Surigao.

So anyway, before I went to Vang Vieng I was completely convinced that I would spend my time getting carried down the river on a tube, which after all is what Vang Vieng's all about. I packed tank tops, shorts, and sandals, only to find out that the river would instantly kill me. I don't understand how those tourists dare dip in such freezing waters all day long!

In fact, I stayed inside my room most of the time, napped like there was no tomorrow, while covered with a heap of thick blankets. I could not even take a shower because the guest house's water heater was purely a wall accessory. It did not help that the hut's walls were so thin, I felt like everything was sooo damp.

I enjoyed Vang Vieng nonetheless. I really did. Well, there's always Beerlao for some company, and damn, I could marry Beerlao any time. Obviously, I'm not alone in my undying love for the beer as proved by the many drunken backpackers slouched on daybeds in the restaurants.

The only time I could go out to enjoy the scenery was like between 10 am to 4 pm when it was warm enough, but even then I was wearing a sweater while being surrounded by girls in bikinis hanging from the arms of equally half-naked men.

When I went to Vang Vieng last time it was the rainy season. The river then was muddy and totally uninviting, hence, we ended up doing a mega photo shoot. What to do, aber? This time around, the river was clearer, shallower... but cold.

I just refused to get wet or else it's instant hypothermia for me. I took a boat tour instead, which brought me upstream. I got a glimpse of some river life - people washing their clothes, kids swimming, men fishing, etc - and then eventually of the tourism-oriented aspect of Vang Vieng: floating bars, river swings, and so on.

The next day, hours before I left, I ventured across the river to the corn fields where I saw signs leading to a couple of caves. I chose the farther one, about 40 minutes hike under the shadow of the karst cliffs surrounding the fields. I don't know what to say about the cave, really. We know how they're like: dark, damp, and slippery. Note to self: don't do caves again.

So it's back to Vientiane where I managed to catch the evening market by the river bank. I love those colorful embroidered bags! And then, as a tribute to my wonderful stay in Laos, of course I had to guzzle one more big bottle of Beerlao.