Rational Madness

Monday, April 16, 2007

I AM MINE
Pearl Jam

The selfish, they're all standing in line
Faithing and hoping to buy themselves time
Me, I figure as each breath goes by
I only own my mind

The North is to South what the clock is to time
There's east and there's west and there's everywhere life
I know I was born and I know that I'll die
The in between is mine
I am mine

And the feeling, it gets left behind
All the innocence lost at one time
Significant, behind the eyes
There's no need to hide...
We're safe tonight

The ocean is full 'cause everyone's crying
The full moon is looking for friends at high tide
The sorrow grows bigger when the sorrow's denied
I only know my mind
I am mine

And the meaning, it gets left behind
All the innocents lost at one time
Significant, behind the eyes
There's no need to hide...
We're safe tonight

And the feelings that get left behind
All the innocents broken with lies
Significance, between the lines
(We may need to hide)

And the meanings that get left behind
All the innocents lost at one time
We're all different behind the eyes
There's no need to hide

***
That Eddie Vedder is a literary genius. Where the hell is he, anyway?

That I'm not listening to current music is a blessing to me. At least, I get to wallow in Old rock (like this one)that has meaning and is introspective. What you hear these days is a bunch of crap about s*x, violence, murder. That's music? Shizz. This here is Emo, long before emo started. But it's hard rock. Take that!

I don't like to take crap from musicians who can't even truly carry out a tune much less write a stanza or two. And that's what you mostly get nowadays. Back in the mid-90's, music was a fever and it was contagious. These days, Music is like gonnorrhea. You get infected when you consent to it. And I heard there's a strain that has no cure. Hell, I don't want THAT.

Labels: Music, Pearl Jam

she told the story ... 10:38 PM

Saturday, April 07, 2007

I've been absorbed at work the past few days but I've allowed myself the luxury of reading Christopher Pike's newest book, Falling.

I am a huuuuuuuuge Pike fan. I have almost all of his YA books save for five (which I'm gonna get soon). That's what, 60 books? So you can say I'm obsessed with his books, to which I'll retort, "So frikkin what?!"

"Literary crack cocaine" is what one review called the book, Falling and they kid you not. This is an amazing suspense thriller. The plot is well-weaved and you won't be able to help but keep turning the page. There's a number of plausible criminal plots involved in the book, which makes me wonder if Pike isn't actually a criminal himself. (Ha! I'm sorry, that was written in jest.) Best of all, the characters have so much depth in them they stirred me to the core.

I think Pike's best gift is character development. He is able to capture emotion, inner demons and human weaknesses, lump it and throw it at a reader like me. And now I'm stripped senseless. I couldn't help bawling at Kelly Feinman's inner struggles and believe it or not, like Kelly, I too felt a bit of sympathy towards the Acid Man himself. I also couldn't help but feel hatred towards Amy, just like Matt Connor and I have found myself in a moral dilemma when I accepted and swallowed whole the reasons of the criminal mind.

I'm sure I'm biased to a degree. This is, after all, Christopher Pike. I have been reading Pike since I was in 5th grade and I have been rereading his older books over the years. I love every one of them; some way more than others. I have witnessed his books' transition from plain murder mystery (Final Friends series) to New Age (Remember Me Series), to evil thrillers (The Last Vampire series),to completely alien (The Tachyon Web) and now to more Adult-oriented books. His high school characters have grown up, as he has gotten older. He cannot very well write about High School problems now that he's probably in his 50's so it's just apt that he has ventured into general fiction for a more mature audience. He's been dying to write about sex since way back when (haha!) and since his YA books couldn't have a lot of "action", at least now he has the freedom. Thank Goodness he hasn't gone into every blessed detail though, a mention here and there and it's just enough.

Falling will keep you falling into the deep, dark abyss that is Christopher Pike's world. And when you have touched the ground and realized you're still in your room just holding a book, you'll find yourself disappointed that the fantasy had to end. I certainly wanted to know more but I unless I find some fan-fiction sequels (or unless I make one up myself) Matt Connor and Kelly Feinman will just live on in my imagination. Talk about getting high on literary crack cocaine!

P.S. I'm not sure if it's available in the Philippines. Our local Barnes and Noble had to order my copy from another store for me. But if you get the chance, spill the thousand bucks or so coz you won't regret it.

P.P.S. I seem to be doing a lot of these postscripts but I just want to tell you about The Blind Mirror. That's the Pike made before Falling. Man, was that book a page turner... I couldn't put it down coz I wanted to know what happens next! But you have to be pretty open minded to swallow that whole thing in one gulp. Still, a great read.

Labels: Christopher Pike, Falling

she told the story ... 11:10 AM

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Gore, Love, Innocence.

I've been making good use of my time lately by reading books and watching a lot of good movies. And here I just want to blab away at the movies that have made me think lately...

1. 300- I personally do not like gory films, I don't like violent upheavals and wars and I especially don't like it when animals are at stake. But this is just singularly spectacular. I never thought I'd like it. Okay, it's a big deal that the Spartan men are sexy and hunky but Gerard Butler (Phantom of the Opera) as King Leonidas is ammmmazing! He's strong and powerful and it's not hard to believe him to be Spartan rather than Scottish. And tha abs on this movie.. wa-hey, ladies! The blood and gore for the men, and the abs and pretty Spartans for the ladies and this R rated movie will sell millions! Anyways, the story itself is intruiging that it made me research about the war of Thermoplyae (Greek-Persian war) and the stories of King Leonidas and even Xerxes. The dude who plays Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) is actually a good-looking fella in real life. Watch him in Love, Actually.

2. Love, Actually- I watched this maybe two years ago and I didn't like it. But recently I've come across fans raving about this movie so okay, I thought I'll give it another go. And this time, I loved it! There are eight love angles to follow in this movie but the transitions are smooth, and we find out later that their lives are intertwined. There's a horde of British superstars in this ensemble cast and there are some who stood out more than others.

The thing that confused me and made love this movie are Emma Thompson as Karen and Alan Rickman as Harry. She's a great actress, he's an outstanding actor and as husband and wife, you feel their "dwindling" chemistry and understand that it is possible he could fall for the slut of a homewrecker Mia(Heike Makatsch). That ho seduced him to no end and he would have readily caved in had his wife not talked to him that she knew of the impending affair. There's a question here whether he did cheat or not. Personally, I don't think he did because the skank was left cold and blue on that Christmas night when she thought he would be coming to her. Still the relationship of husband and wife was strained since then. Let this be a lesson to all you idiots who cheat on your wives!

I also like Mark's (Andrew Lincoln) story because it's very touching. Imagine loving someone from afar, that's hard. Harder still, that she is your best friend's wife.

P.S. I love Colin Firth in this one coz his character is so tender and he finds love even though there's a language barrier between them.

3. Malena- Here's a language barrier I had to endure. Thank Goodness for subtitles! It's a beautiful story of a beautiful woman and the child whose innocence she plucked unknowingly. Monica Bellucci is beautiful and she rarely speaks in this film but you can understand all that she is through Renato's eyes. Much of her beautiful body is revealed in this movie (darn that horny boy!) but she's beautiful so it's not like you'll puke after seeing the nude scenes.

There. There's more movies that I'd like to review but I'm itching to get back to Mr. Darcy and Pemberly. ;D Pamela Aidan did Jane Austen justice. Permit me to recommend Fitzwilliam Darcy, A Gentleman to you. But get books 1 and 3. Skip book 2 if you're a Pride and Prejudice purist.

Labels: 300, Love Actually, Malena

she told the story ... 10:54 AM

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Foodtrippin' Part 2

SM Mall of Asia South Wing

Okay, I'm on a no rice diet for a week on account of my pants are borderline too fit... which makes me delusional about my weight (I'm so not anorexic, just want to maintain my ideal weight, Thank you very much!)... which makes me think about eating healthily... which makes me think more about food. Ergo, this post.

Oh, I miss Pinoy-made food. I don't care which country the food originated from, if it's in the Philippines, it's delish! Here, you can make adobo with Silver swan, Datu Puti and organic meat and vegetables and still never get the same precious taste of the ones made in the Philippines. Hmm.. must be the pollution.

Anywho, try these places on for size if you're hungry and can gobble a meal guilt-free...

1. Shakey's Pizza. I lurrve this place. This is probably where Vincent and I go the most. Why? We order the same thing every time: Bunch of Lunch. For P110, you get a slice of pizza, a good portion of chicken, 3 mojo potatoes, spaghetti and garlic bread. Yummers. Then we order another round of Mojos with caesar dip. Mmm mmm. Unlike the Shakey's at Glorietta, this branch seems to follow their standard. The mojos are often warm and the chicken is often huge. Downside? The place is extremely small.

2. Chef D'Angelo. Technically this is in the Main mall but it's facing south so what the heck. Huge portions, good food, good price. Plus is you have an SM Advantage card and you order p500 worth of food, you get a free shrimp caesar salad. They don't scrimp on the shrimp so lurrrve it. Pizza is a bargain too. Place is on the smaller side. But you can always eat alfresco.

3. Stars and Stripes. 2nd floor. American diner? Check! Real beef? Check! Yummilicious food? Check! Ohh lala. The burger here is amazing. Real, thick beefy goodness. I tried the bacon cheeseburger and man, was that good. With a huge side of fries, you're good to go! Vincent ordered Fried chicken though and that was a letdown. Small portion and the gravy isn't to die for. It's a bit pricey here. Around P200 for a good meal.

4. Kenny Rogers' Roasters. I wonder why Kenny's Roasters is a laughingstock round these parts of America. Maybe they haven't tried Kenny's roasted chicken with a side of corn and carrots. Coz that's my favorite from this place. Solo A. But a note to the novice, don't get any of their salads. I've tried the salad at Megamall, Glorietta, Roxas Blvd and they don't seem to reconcile with the word "fresh". Lettuces are brown on the side and tomatoes are soggy. Yeulch. But the chicken is great.

5. Plato Platina. We got enticed to eat here because they have a Merienda buffet for a cheap price (I forget but it's between P150 to 250) . You can eat any pizza, pasta or sandwich on their merienda menu--which we later found out wasn't a lot. And the food doesn't taste that great. They all taste like olive oil. You're better off eating merienda at Cabalen. They, too, have a merienda buffet. Skip this place.

6. Tokyo, Tokyo. Boys love this place because of the "Kanin all you can" promo. I love this place because of the Chicken Teriyaki that even my cousin Isabel could never forget, even if her Tokyo Tokyo experience was maybe 10 years ago. The teriyaki sauce is great! Yummerz! And it's great with the bean sprouts (toge). The sumo meals aren't that good but a lot of people like 'em. Don't know why. The tonkatsu seems too dry. But hey. They refill the sauce so that's a bonus point to un-dry the pork.

Okay so it's lunch time here. I'm hungry as hell. But no rice. Darn. Some other time, we'll talk about the other restos in this huge mall. Some later time, I'll write about all the other restos worth writing about. So long. Bon Appetit!

Labels: food, Mall of Asia

she told the story ... 12:12 PM

Friday, March 02, 2007

Mall Tycoons

I came across this very interesting list on msn.com last night. It's about the 10 biggest malls in the world. In 1994, back when I had my first ever copy of the Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest mall in the world was in Canada. This year, that mall has gone down to Number 4 in the list. Eight of biggest malls in the world now rises in Asia, and shocker of shockers, three of those are in the Philippines!

Check this out (square footage is relative to available retail space):

1. South China Mall (2005, China) 7.1 Million square feet

2. Golden Resources Shopping Mall (2004, China) 6M sq.ft.

3. SM Mall of Asia (2006, Philippines) 4.2 M sq.ft.

4. West Edmonton Mall (1981, Canada) 3.8 M sq. ft.

5. SM Megamall (1991, Philippines) 3.6 M sq. ft.

6. Berjaya Times Square (2005, Malaysia) 3.4 M sq. ft.

7. Beijing Mall (2005, China) 3.4 M sq. ft.

8. Zhengjia Plaza (2005, China) 3 M sq. ft.

9. SM City North Edsa (1985, Philippines) 3 M sq. ft.

10.King of Prussia Mall (1962, USA) 2.8 M sq. ft.

From the abovementioned information, you might start thinking these trivial thoughts as I have:

1. My, China is obsessed with trade and retail. Even with a whole horde of Chinese retailers conquering Divisoria and tiangges, they still have more to sell in their own country!

2. Wow, it looks like the Philippines has a booming economy. What with three of the largest malls in the world cramped in our teeny weeny island paradise.

3. What, no competition from America? Where's American capitalism when you need it?

Then I come to my senses and realize...

1. Well, China is relaxing their grip a bit, especially since the Olympics is at hand and they expect tourists to storm their malls. And yes, I still think they're obsessed businessmen. For the good of the country, of course.

2. Come to think of it, it's not the Philippines that has a booming economy. It's Henry Sy, the owner and developer of the SM super malls. He's the only one playing reality-based Mall Tycoon here. He's the sole reason the Philippines is on the list. Let's not fail to mention he's part Chinese, ergo he may well be an obsessed businessman himself.

3. I am stumped on the third issue. But I'm sure Americans will be doing something about this! China cannot beat them at this game! They invented the frikkin' game!

Let's stand by. I'm sure this will get down and dirty... And for that matter, since Henry Sy claimed that Mall of Asia was gonna be the biggest in Asia, (clearly it isn't), I'm sure he'll reclaim another part of the Pacific Ocean or the South China Sea to build the Mall of malls of the entire Universe. Next year, let's wait for the next rising building in the galaxy!

Labels: Mall of Asia, Malls

she told the story ... 12:00 PM

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Food Trippin' Part 1

I love food. And I love malls. Food in the malls is even better. After the hustle and bustle of intense shopping, I get tired and hungry. So I love eating especially after shopping. With the recent opening of the SM Mall of Asia, it wasn't hard to just go food tripping with my beau or by myself. Here's my own food/restaurant review. Enjoy...

Fastfoods in the Up front and Center of MOA:

Jollibee, KFC, Greenwich,Chowking and McDonald's. Don't even think of coming here during the weekends especially during lunch or dinner because it's always expectedly full. The lines are long and often, you have to wait for people to finish up before you can have a seat...or have other people wait by your side. Which is more irritating, really?

Yet, these fastfood restos have the cheapest food here--and most reliable. Jollibee's spaghetti and Chicken Joy, KFC's hotshots and Zinger, Greenwich's pizza buffet, Chowking's merienda chicken noodle soup and Mc Donald's fries. Yum yum!!! So it's your choice.

Up front, there's also the French Baker and Chicken Inasal. Not always full but their food is a bit pricier.

But then you can also try Pizza Hut Bistro for your fix of ambience and expensive pizza. I like Bistro especially because of the ambience but the food isn't really that great. I get better buffalo chicken and steak at Stars and Stripes and pizza's better and cheaper at Chef D'Angelo's. But hey. Sometimes, you crave for the oily, meaty goodness of Pizza Hut's thick crust pizzas.

You can also try Aristocrat. I have never tried eating here because 1. They have a bad rep for being overpriced (portion over price ratio) 2. I just don't like it.