HBO is set to bring Little Britain stateside via Little Britain USA (makes sense, no?). I'm a little (just a weeee bit) nervous about this one, especially after seeing how Flight of the Conchords lost some of their precious flavor (I was happier watching their live sets kahit pa-isa-isa lang sa YouTube). FOTC's still funny, but i guess the jokes become less of a surprise when you've heard them before and already know what's coming. Saw a pre-pilot video and it looks quite promising :) It'll still be Matt Lucas and David Walliams!!! I think they're keeping Sebastian, Daffyd, Vicky, Bubbles, siyempre Lou and Andy and Emily Howard!!!

There's some bad PR going on online, supposedly coming from the GLBT sector of good ol' US and A. I dunno, man. Isn't political correctness tiresome?

I have nothing against their issues against the show, but there are also quarters of the same community who just think it's a good piece of comedy. I think Americans just have to take themselves less seriously sometimes.

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Reading a book entitled Adam's Navel: A cultural look at the human body. It's probably going to be one of the most interesting books I'll read ever :)
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Confession: I have a mad girl crush on Olivia Munn.
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I still haven't written my Once review. parang ang hirap eh. huhuhu!
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Sometimes, one can't help but envy those people we make fun of. People who seem to have gone off the deep end to live, well, in a world they'd rather believe in. You've heard of them--conspiracy theorists, the one who believes he's the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, the "witch" hunter...

You read or imagine things that you've come to accept as impossible, or at least belonging to another reality, or another dimension. And here you have people believing such things can happen on ye olde earth. Even if you and I get scared of them, they're seeing something most of us will never have the courage to look at.

when it comes to my addiction for books, i would have to say that the past few months have been spectacular. i never thought i could measure achievement in pages...

ever since we were kids, and especially when i started buying books on my own with saved-up allowance money, my sister always teased me about my collection. she often said i'd probably have a library someday.

when i started working, it couldn't be helped that i get some slack for my book-buying habits. better nga naman kung pagkain na lang, di ba? though i did argue to death that i always got those books on sale...

sooo, i am very happy to say that i am now on my way to curbing my impractical bibliophile tendencies. what i could have bought, i've borrowed. yes, i still can't help but browse through sale bins when they're oh-so-surreptitiously available (it's a conspiracy, i tell you), but, But, BUT i have learned to be so much more discerning before spending even P20 on a bargain book. when i was a kid, a visit to a 2nd-hand bookstore would never be complete without a P100-yield, roughly 4-10 books then; and i also once spent a whopping P7,000 at a book fair.

Now, I can pass by a discount display, check out a few titles, read at least five separate pages, and if i didn't like it, i wouldn't buy it. i know this is probably regular for most of you, but i dunno, it makes me feel like such a winner. it's like i have literary taste or something... ;-)

killing the shopping bug was easy, and refraining from buying CDs was tougher (despite the practicality of el torrente and the mp3), but this... it's like going full circle. books were my very first love and i'm learning how to make this relationship work without hurting any one of us, ensuring that we'll be part of each other's lives for much, much longer :)

Now this is a brilliant way to make the world an even smaller, kinder place :) Thanks, MJ, for the alert and the card!

yes, gurgle not gargle...

* my mom's birthday tomorrow :) we're cooking things and such. i hope the titos and the titas come. that's all she wants.

* three quarters into Breaking Dawn is the wrong thing to read right now

* been thinking a lot about loyalty lately (oh heeey, how's that for alliteration? ;-) ). i realize i'm not the best person to rail against the disloyal, but some people really will disregard things for the sake of convenience. i wonder if anyone has ever DIED of inconvenience. the cancer in this society is more than just its politics. a great factor is laziness--the short cut, the band-aid, anything that will make it easier on you even if it's not right. kamote.

* what do you do when life presents so many shiny new things, but so very few changes?

* planning a surfing trip to good ol' LU next weekend (aug. 23 to 25). join na! i ranted some days ago re: not really liking my brain at the moment, like it doesn't know how to just be settled anymore. my thinking is getting increasingly frantic.  i need to get away to clear my head. that particular beach always does it. i can't wait for the chance to just be able to concentrate on one beautiful objective :)

* bellydance has started again. diyosa jill is teaching us a tribal choreography now. wheee! sama na kayo dali! teacher by 40, teacher by 40, teacher by 40...

da, that's it.

Now this is a comeback. After all the trouble with booze, drugs and (was there?) a drunk driving charge, former heir to the serious-actor-slash-matinee-idol throne Robert Downey Jr. shows he still has what it takes to wow audiences. This may even be his blockbuster-est movie yet. What could've been a hokey let's-turn-over-a-new-leaf story was more believable from across Downey's eyes (the same ones that made you cry in Chaplin).

the other nuts:
Jeff Bridges - Whoa!!! I didn't think he could be that menacing, in a very human way, too. Made it more disturbing.
Gwyneth Paltrow - Never liked her much but she was woefully underused here. Maybe they have plans for the second.

and my super squeal moment: yes, nick fury and s.h.i.e.l.d.!!! i clapped my hands like a giddy kid shrieking "whoo! nick fury and s.h.i.e.l.d.!" while remembering how fun it was to geek out over comic books with my brother when we were younger.

that's all, you guys have already said everything else :D

now that harry potter is over...

*geek mode on*

thanks, pi, for the book lend. i haven't inhaled a book this quickly since His Dark Materials. and i have to say i am addicted. oh what a wonderful saturday it is to spend the whole day with a book. haven't done that in ages and what a reward it is.

the book is twilight by stephanie meyer, and i won't be surprised if i'm the last one to be on to it. like any good geek, i did the rounds of googledom and youtubeia and discovered that the book has been enjoying good buzz since it first came out in 2005. thank god it's a saga and there are apparently three more (or more, please? yes?) delectable reads to "suck" me in further.
 
basic premise: quiet bella is a newcomer at a rainy little town. as she adjusts to school and all the other concerns of a teenager, she finds herself observing a group of five kids--the Cullens. one particular Cullen (name of Edward) catches her attention as he glares at her so violently on day one. eventually, she discovers the reason for this Cullen's reactions: the smell of her blood is particularly delicious to him. the problem is, they are a family of vampires who have resolved never to drink human blood, and he is also attracted to her as a person. and well, bella, has fallen for him, too.

if it was possible to lick a book, i'd have licked twilight. but it's not mine. writer stephanie meyer did a tight job. i thought this was all very "teenaged" and i didn't have a problem enjoying the seeming shallowness. i haven't felt this "kilig" in ages. imagine, wanting to be with someone so badly but he can kill you with a twitch of his finger. worse is, he wants the same thing you do. aaargh!!!

i guess what really attracted me to the book is the whole "you can't always get what you want" aspect of it, or at least you can't get it the way you want it. i dunno, this theme always speaks to me. that life is never perfect but you can keep believing and trying.

and i have to say, i enjoyed it as much as my ultra-favorite "for younger ones" novel, Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O' Dell. i still find IBD so meaningful, but like any good vampire victim, i can't resist the attraction to the dark romance. the tension! OH. MY. GOD. The Tension! jesus, what a turn-on. i had to text pi while reading it. damn. it's all about the dangerous, forbidden fruit, control and, yeah, that mushy thing. gaaaah, i have to stop gushing now, it's getting silly.

APPARENTLY, there is a movie coming out this december. who plays beautiful Edward? Cedric Diggory, that's who. double damn.

okay, now the question is, where do i find a vampire to suck my neck? swoon.

(review upcoming as soon as i remember to breathe)