I watched, I squeed, I flailed

Yes, I've seen New Moon. I wish I could offer a sensible review, but how could I, when I was bombarded with images of this:

The whole movie is practically two-hour montage of Taylor Lautner's transformation from lanky shark boy to werewolf hottie. Not that I'm complaining. It certainly distracted me from cringing at how cheesy the lines were ("It not you, it's me"....Really? this dialogue in a Hollywood movie?) and how Bella is setting back the women's movement several decades with her incessant moping and pining and "my life can't go on without you" schtick. It's getting tiring. Forget Bella boys, you'd do so much better hooking up with each other!

On a positive note, director Paul Weitz did much better on the technical elements than Catherine Hardwicke. The CGI looks a little more expensive now, and the Cullens no longer look like espasols. They even got Alexandre Desplat to compose the musical score.

Bottom line: The movie is ok, and to be honest I'm really just watching for the eye candy. So if you have the same motivations as me, then go go go see it now. But otherwise, save your money for the (pirated) DVD. Screaming fangirls can be dangerous to your health.

Please Excuse My Fangirl Indulgence

Why are U.S. magazines so ridiculously expensive? It makes shallow obsessing over celebs so tough on my finances.

So this month alone, I just HAD TO buy this (it's Glee! I couldn't resist!):

And this (holy hotness Batman! And I don't care if bats for the other team):

Then I forgot it's already November, which means this:

and this:

And most likely this: People's Sexiest Man Alive 2009

Damn, G**** we need to save up! Hehe.

Live Like We're Dying...

...is the title of Kris Allen's new single (not the title of an inspirational blog entry). I am so invested in this guy's career I feel like his mother.

Click on the YouTube video to listen to the new single. Sorry for the quality, it's a crude recording from the radio. The single will be officially released this weekend pa.




I'm trying to listen to it as objectively as possible...and I really really like it (No joke!). Reminds me of Maroon 5, Jamiroquai and Jason Mraz. The song is actually a cover (sort of), it was recorded by the Brit indie band The Script as a demo, but never made it to any of The Script's albums. So the band pitched it to record companies for other artists to record...and it landed on Kris' lap.

Now I just have to wait for Adam's new single :)

Five Reasons Why I Love Glee (And Why You Should Give It A Try!)

1. It’s like High School Musical…on crack! The similarities are aplenty. A jock who sings well? Check. Social outcasts with hidden musical talents? Check. Inevitable jock-nerd (sort of) romantic connection? Check. If HSM is rated G, I’d say Glee is rated PG-15. Not because there’s sex and violence (at least not yet, or I hope none ever!), but because there’s actually some gay characters (does the term gay…and I don’t mean gay as in happy….exist in Disney la-la land?). And illegal drugs. I love it.

2. Show tunes galore! Even the non-Broadway musical tunes are sung in a musical style…I like. And now I’ve got Amy Winehouse’s Rehab and Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing playing over and over in my head…blame it on those round-the-clock promo spots on ETC.

3. I’m not familiar with a single person in the cast. OK, that’s an exaggeration, I actually know who Jessalyn Gilsig is (only because I’ve seen her on other TV shows, and I’m such a tv/movie nerd). The rest are unknowns, or were plucked from Broadway. Which means they ARE all uber-talented, and not just there because of star power.

4. For some inexplicable reason, Glee reminds me of Election, that Matthew Broderick-Reese Witherspoon-Chris Klein indie that no one in my circle of friends has ever seen (digression: go see that movie now!) The lead female in Glee is totally Tracy Flick (Reese’s character) and the lead male reminds me of Paul Meltzer (Chris Klein’s character).

5. Listen to the musical score. It’s even more amazing than the show tunes. They took semi-popular scores from films, and had them sung by a choir a capella. Clever.

I would normally follow that list with raving recommendation, but…I actually don’t think Glee is for everyone. It’s too campy, too Broadway-ish, too corny at times. But as a girl who’s seen High School Musical an unhealthy number of times (not proud of that), whose favorite TV show is American Idol (not proud of that either), and who has several Broadway cast recordings on her iPod…Glee is totally my TV dream come true. Thank you, Ryan Murphy.

[And on a final note, can I just say that ETC and JackTV are the Best. Channels. Ever. Not only can I watch Glee only a few days after it’s US showing (on both channels!), but JackTV is also airing Jay Leno’s new show (live!) and ETC will air Gossip Girl Season 3 (also only a few days after the US airing!) And then there’s TMZ pa!]

The Best Things in Life are (Duty) Free

This is just too good of a deal for me not to share with my shopaholic friends.

Duty Free Philippines has an ongoing promo : If you pay for your purchases in Philippine Pesos, the US dollar conversion rate is only 43 pesos to a dollar (compared to the current conversion rate of 48+ pesos to a dollar). That doesn't sound like much, so here's some mathematical proof to convince you all, using my purchases as examples (sorry no actual pics, I tried, but my iPhone camera skills are blah at best):

Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Eye Cream
Rustan's price: P2,950.00
Duty Free price: $51.00 or about P2,200.00