New Kids On The Block Reunited!
“How it all started and restarted”
New Kids On The Block — five now fully-grown men who forever defined what the modern boy band would look and sound like — are back together for the very first time in nearly a decade and a half, and currently hard at work on their first new album since 1994. That still untitled album should be released sometime this summer, preceded by the New Kid’s first new single since the Nineties, and followed in the fall by an already hotly anticipated international concert tour.
Continue reading “New Kids On The Block Reunited!“….
Out of order?
Have you ever experienced some confusion or ambiguity re: communication or use of language? Especially when you are in another country?
I was reading the post, The Senate is “Out of Order” in the stressed in the city blog earlier tonight. I was reminded of a time many years ago when Key & I were in a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City. We were trying to order some food and a couple of items we wanted were not available.
Read more about it here …
Aerobics fun
It’s been more than a month now since the semester opened. Since then aerobics classes have also commenced. I have been quite good during the past weeks in attending it. We have classes three days a week, on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 5 to 6 pm. I am trying not to miss any class as I really need the exercise. I find it fun despite the fact that most of the time I am one or two steps slower than the teacher 
.
Have a chuckle by reading more about it here …
Bad dream experience
Last weekend early morning I woke up from a bad dream. It was bad in a way because in that dream I felt fear. The scene was in one of the bedrooms in the basement of our house in Antique. We were on the bed facing the window and I saw somebody through the glass.
Read more about it here …
Maritime Piracy and Economic Chaos in Old Manila
According to the International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center, there has been an alarming surge in pirate attacks worldwide. Africa remains the world’s top piracy hotspot, with 24 reported attacks in Somalia and 18 in Nigeria this year.
Recently, Somali pirates seized the cargo ship Faina off the coast of Somalia on Thursday as it headed to Kenya. The Ukrainian-operated ship is carrying ordnance ordered by the Kenyan government, which ncludes 33 Russian-built T-72 tanks and a substantial amount of ammunition and spare parts.
The pirates are demanding a $20 million ransom to release the Faina and its crew. Although the Kenyan government stands firm in its policy not to negotiate with pirates or terrorists, what’s on board deeply concerns five nations — Ukraine, Somalia, Russia, the United States and Britain — and have been sharing information to try to secure the swift release of the ship and its 21-member crew.
Meanwhile, in America, in its attempt to thwart a shattering financial crisis with major global repercussion, the Bush administration and congressional leaders agreed on a deal to authorize the biggest banking rescue in U.S. history — the $700 billion bail out program.
According to the Wall Street Journal, at its core is Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s concept of buying impaired mortgage-related assets from financial firms — giving them cash to replace the toxic debts that have put them in danger or dissuaded them from lending. The plan is to help the firms restore their capital bases as well as the trust that enables them to borrow and lend at reasonable terms. Without this, officials worry that the credit markets, the lifeblood of the U.S. economy, would grind to a halt.
An extraordinary week of talks unfolded after Paulson and Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, went to Congress 10 days ago with ominous warnings about a full-blown economic meltdown if lawmakers did not act quickly to infuse huge amounts of government money into a financial sector buckling under the weight of toxic debt.
These two crises — maritime piracy and economic turmoil — in one fell swoop, at one point during the 16th century, similarly roiled in and shocked Manila.
In the early morning of November 4, 1587, in the bay of Augua Segura or Puerto Seguro, now named San Jose del Cabo somewhere in the tip of Baja California, the English pirates led by Thomas Cavendish sighted the galleon ship Santa Ana, on her way to Cabo San Lucas at the tip of Lower California to make a landfall and check her course prior to continuing on to Acapulco.
Cavendish’s ships, the Desire and Content gave chase with all sail. It was afternoon when they came up broadside with the Santa Ana — tagged as the “great rich ship” — under the command of Tomas de Alzola. It left the port of Cavite the last week of June, some four-and-a-half months earlier.
The English ships attacked the Santa Ana with full force, killing and maiming many of its men who fought valiantly and refused to surrender. After about six hours of intense resistance and having suffered heavy loses — with the hull of Santa Ana also sustaining a canon blast at the waterline — Captain Tomas de Alzola finally hung out a flag of surrender.
Continue reading here.
Cinema Eskandalosa
The only visible aspects of this theater is its narrow entrance and the wall with the posters of its current features. Other than that, one can walk along Recto and hardly notice its existence. That is, except for one other thing: the stench that emanates from its interior.
It smells like a cocktail of stale sweat, rancid kitchen rag, bedraggled ditch digger’s overalls, dried infant’s puke, and God only knows how else to describe it.
Hence, there’s no way you wouldn’t notice this theater’s existence when you pass by it. However, this distinctly foul smell is rather universal, for I’ve smelled it before in New York’s seedy Times Square area before it got Disneyfied — whenever I passed by any movie house that featured soft porn or adult film. Therefore, this odor is not exclusively indigenous to this movie theater in Manila.
Even If you’ve never been anywhere near this part of Recto Avenue, you may still have seen this theater in the evening news or read about it in the tabloids — being raided by the police for the scandalous activities that some of its patrons engaged in while inside the theater. I heard it gets raided at least once a month.
Nonetheless, what I find intriguing about this particular theater are the suggestive titles of the films it features. Truth be told, whenever passing by, it has become a habit to check them out. If I were one of those romance novelists who write in the local vernacular, I might make a list of these titles for reference for some future steamy, salacious scenes.
Besides the suggestive titles you see in these photographs, the following are some I remember seeing, or had heard from friends who are into local films:
Click here to view list and read the rest of article.
Justin Timberlake, Westlife, Eraserheads and Urbandub in a Major Concert???
This year has been a very good one for all the music lovers and fans because a lot of very popular and in-demand artists and bands came over and did a major concert here. With that, a survey was conducted through this blog over a month ago asking this site’s visitors about who else they want to go or come back here and do a major concert here.
Continue reading “Justin Timberlake, Westlife, Eraserheads and Urbandub in a Major Concert???“
