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It was past 12 noon when we were all allowed to have lunch at the studio's canteen. All 34 of us.  Jim appointed a leader of the group (whose name escapes me).  We were all told that we have an hour to re-assemble ourselves in the garden so that the marshall can fetch us all.  A word of caution from Jim: if all 34 aren't complete, we have to be rescheduled for another day.  So we all filed out of the studio and were guided to the canteen to have our lunch.  Food was okay.  A lot of us formed cliques.  The young ones (early 20s) were bunched up in one corner.  Likewise with the thirtysomethings.  And one old guy who qualified were with us (the late 30s and early 40s).  After eating, I called up Ruel and told him that I passed the first screening.  Then I called my dad and told him what happened, that I might be in the studio for the rest of the day. One by one, all 34 of us began to gather in the open garden to wai...

Rating: ★★★★★ Category: Music Genre: Other Artist: Michael Feinstein The Great Interpreter of the American Songbook meets Ol' Blue Eyes... This is one cd that should belong to your collection of standards,whether you're a Michael Feinstein fan or a Frank Sinatra fan (am proud to say, I am both!)! So when I saw this cd already out in Music One, I just had to buy it. Backed up by Bill Elliot and his orchestra, Feinstein has put his singing talents to work wonders on songs that were just recorded once by Sinatra. What makes the songs delightful and seem new again is the fact that Feinstein has the knack for discovering discarded or unsung lyrics, then putting them back in the song, that when you hear it, it's like hearing it for the first time. And the highlight of the album? A song composed by the Bergmans (Alan and Marilyn) just for Sinatra... "The Same Hello, The Same Goodbye." In his liner notes, Feinstein wrote that when Sinatra heard Alan sang t...

I really thought that was the end of it and charged it to experience.  It was kinda fun while it lasted.  Am a little bit disappointed though.  Part of me was wishing that I be selected as one of the studio contestants. But it wasn't to be.  Which made me think, what where they looking for in a studio contestant?  Was it whim on their part?  Up to this day, I still wonder what the criteria is for a studio contestant.  Even though I wasn't chosen, I still enjoy watching Kapamilya Deal or No Deal when I get the chance to watch it. Two seasons have come and gone for the show and the thrill of each suitcase being opened one by one is still there... And I found myself texting them again.  I still want to join the show after all. -oOo- I think it was September 20 when I got a text confirmation from a certain Jimmy Capulong of ABS CBN. The text message said that I should bring with me a picture, a pen and valid ID on Se...

It was the second week of September when I texted Kapamilya Deal or No Deal (Third Season) to become a studio participant.  I'm sure I was absent from work when I watched the show and texted that same day. Yes, I texted them for the second time. Who knows I might get lucky this time around, right? The first time, I only got as far as the first test-- a general profiling done by the resident ABS-CBN psychologist/psychiatrist Randy Dellosa. But was sent home after they had handpicked those who were qualified for the second round of test. And I thought at the time, that it was the end of my try-outs to join gameshows.  -oOo- I remember the first time because I filed a leave of absence just to attend the audition.  It was a Friday, May 25, 2007.  I even bugged my best friend to join me (Ruel graciously agreed). We were there around 10am.  The queue outside the main entrance of ABS CBN in Mother Ignacia was long!  I told myself, the n...

My closest friends know that I read Jessica Zafra's stuff.  I even have one book signed by her ("To Rey, king of what?"). Not that I am a loyal fan, but I have all of her Twisted books.  I don't read her other books, though.  But I think, whatever it is she has written, it's good. Jessica is an acquired taste.  Like beer.  But I digress. That's not the journey I'm talking about.  I'm talking about the journey I took more than ten  years ago, in search of Jessica Zafra's Planet of the Twisted , in one of National Bookstore's branches.  When I read that her third book in the Twisted series was already out, I went to the nearest National Bookstore to see if it was really true.  At that time, I had no cash with me but the assurance that it was there on the shelf and that I would buy it as soon as payday comes is enough.  And yes, there it was, in the Filipiniana section of National Bookstore Cubao.  I leafed through the pa...