Lazy days on the sofa

more like super trash

2015-04-20T16:23:50Z

Dear Old Navy and Gap: Next time you have your Super Cash or GapCash promotion, can you please make sure that it applies to everything with much, much fewer restrictions? I mean, hello: What's the point of being rewarded with so much of that token cash and feeling all happy and excited about it when it has so many limitations and you simultaneously offer better deals and discounts anyway? You're just wasting somebody's time and Inbox space or paper if I'd received those coupons in a store.

Just sayin'.

the one that got away

2015-01-31T05:03:49Z

Just have to let this out even if I'm so tired that my body is gravitating to my bed so bad and I've been pressing the wrong keys on my laptop...

On Elementary Season 3, Episode 12: I thought it was a really, really good episode. I loved it.

But...Kitty's gone. :(

it's elementary, my dear

2015-01-24T01:25:53Z

Regarding Elementary Season 3, Episode 11, “The Illustrious Client”: You wouldn't cast Stuart Townsend in the show just to play Joan's new boss now, would you? Of course not! Of course he's gonna be more than just that. Like...duhrr. And I knew it!

Sure this could actually be a critique on how predictable the episode was but no worries, I'm gonna let that slide. They couldn't have picked a better new villain than Stuart Townsend.

On an unrelated note, I've been organizing my Photobucket accounts and, hrmm, still getting irked by all the changes in the site. Most especially the fact that I can't as easily Right-Click-and-Save-As an image as before and it's just...sad.

it's just a little crush

2015-01-21T03:14:29Z

So last night, Monday, was finally able to watch the first hour of the Major Crimes Season 3 finale. Is it just me or is it right to sense Rusty's attraction to SWAT Officer Stuart that the former suddenly went all flustered and speechless? I mean, not blaming you, Rusty, not at all. If I were in your shoes, I'd be all bumbling and shy if I had met Officer Stuart, too.

I kept replaying the scene where they met because it was making me all grin and giddy. In other words: Sobra akong kinilig eh! >3

The question is, what does it mean? Is it a prospective romantic pairing for the show? Now I can't wait for the next season to see if the show will truly explore it. Because I like it. Because honestly? So cute.

more tv stuff i wanna put out there

2015-01-18T03:13:41Z

Just want to say that I'm really enjoying Elementary this season for some reason. Out of all my current favorite TV shows, it's the one I look forward to the most watching every week. Maybe it's because I'm really curious to see where this change in Sherlock and Joan's relationship is headed and where Kitty would eventually fit in the whole scheme of things.

Also been following Season 4 of Project Runway All Stars and I must say, the judges just have got it in for Jay Sario, don't they? He just can't seem to do anything right!

Then finished watching my recorded eps of The Mentalist this afternoon and even though I think the show is appropriately ending this season, still felt a little sad finding out that there's only six episodes left. I'm gonna miss all that Simon Baker charm.

golden opportunities

2015-01-18T03:04:39Z

Last Sunday's Golden Globe Awards was a little boring, wasn't it? I mean, I love Tina Fey and Amy Poehler individually and together, but I just thought they weren't as sidesplittingly funny as their previous years hosting the show and as I know they could be (although, yes, I loved their Would You Rather bit). Even the other presenters' gimmicks were blah, like Ricky Gervais' or like Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader's. I felt a little bad for the latter's bit because it was actually quite apparent that they themselves knew they were bombing. It totally didn't compare to Kristen Wiig's partnering with Will Ferrell at 2013's show.

And I really can't understand that whenever a new show is nominated for any number of the TV series categories, they win the awards no matter what. I mean, they could be really good, but it just honestly seems more to me that the Golden Globes award these new shows solely for their novelty. The worst part of it is on the following year, this winning show is found nowhere near their nominations. So maybe for your TV series categories, Golden Globes, just skip the whole nominations bit and award the newest thing out there, would you?

Also can't believe they didn't present a memoriam for Robin Williams. If they had gone out of their way and made a special award for his voice acting work as the genie in Disney's Aladdin back in 1993, surely they are very capable of honoring the rest of his legacy this year since a simple video montage would've sufficed.

Man of the Year was even playing on TBS that Sunday morning. I've always thought that was a pretty good movie so I've always kind of wondered why it isn't so popular. Anyway, during the scene where Robin Williams' character is on SNL and reveals that he didn't win the presidency, I started to tear up because I was reminded of his comedic genius. He is truly, truly one of the most tragic Hollywood losses in my opinion.

In other TV-related news, I was quite upset that our cable was down for most of Monday and didn't come back up until the evening, so neither I nor the DVR caught the first hour of the Major Crimes Season 3 finale just when Phillip Stroh was back. So had to wait until TNT posted the ep on their On Demand yesterday. I did still, however, watch the second hour Monday night to get my Major Crimes fix for the week, but it turned out to be quite disappointing as well in terms of the episode's conclusion. Don't wanna give away any spoilers but let me just say I found it so clever how the show alluded to one of the possible dangers of using Uber. Mostly, though, I was disappointed because neither Brenda Leigh Johnson nor Sergeant Gabriel made a special comeback appearance in the show. So I'm still hoping for that to happen eventually. Please, producers of the show, Corey Reynolds and especially Kyra Sedgwick? Even seeing Chief Pope again would be awesome.

Speaking of which and going back to the Golden Globes, was very glad to see J.K. Simmons win as Best Supporting Actor for Whiplash. I've only seen trailers of the movie but even from that and having seen a number of his other works, I know J.K. Simmons is a great character actor and so I thought that was a well-deserved win.

Lastly, while I was composing this entry since Monday, didn't realize that this year's Oscar noms would be out this past Thursday morning. So here very quickly are my main thoughts on the nominations which I'd expect are quite similar to all the controversies surrounding them: Surprised Bradley Cooper and American Sniper made it in the mix, glad Edward Norton is back in the award shows circuit, a little sad Amy Adams isn't nominated this year and Marion Cotillard just came out nowhere, didn't she? Glad J.K. Simmons is in there, glad for Steve Carrell, too. Didn't notice Gone Girl wasn't nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay until I heard it on the radio Friday but of course noticed that Rosamund Pike's on the Best Actress list when I first read it.

Now I believe the only movie I've seen among all those nominated is Gone Girl so I do find it kinda funny for me to even have thoughts on the matter. I guess the Oscars have become more about the nominees, the winners and the show itself for me in the last decade or so, rather than the movies they're recognizing and celebrating. Because, honestly, what do the Oscars really matter now anyway?

and then it was ten

2015-01-10T03:24:53Z

Sudden realization: It was my journal's TENTH anniversary last December 15th, 2014.

Oh my god. Ten years??!!

i'm so bored

2013-05-05T05:27:50Z

Just as the title says.

Also: Gosh, darn it, missed a whole month without a post. Oh wells.

And that is all.

status update

2013-03-16T18:18:37Z

Now that a good chunk of personal errands and goals are pretty much done, there's almost absolutely nothing I urgently need to do. Which is great and all, I'm happy and proud of my productivity, though now I'm a little bored. Totally craving to have a TV marathon but I unfortunately do not have the resources for it at the moment.

In other news, now that it's pretty much officially spring, that also means hot soup season is drawing to a close. This makes me sad because I love soup, soups just don't go with warm weather and I still have several cans of Campbell's soups left in my cupboard. But it's my fault for always being so lazy to warm up a can for dinner.

dream in universal color

2013-03-12T00:39:56Z

New journal layout! Can I get a whoop, whoop? Whoop, whoop! Got so tired of all the white and gray of my previous one and thought I should add a bit of color and pattern for a change. I was originally coding this layout for myself but then thought the same thing, didn't want to use all that white and gray again. Plus, didn't want to do all those advanced customizations needed for a Flexible Squares layout (e.g. additional links and options on the comment bar). So I'm also using the Smooth Sailing journal style for a change because it doesn't really need any advanced customizations.

Though I must admit I was having second thoughts of changing. But then again I thought I'd be putting to waste all that time and effort I gave to code this new one. Besides, change is good, my dear, change is good.

special edition valentine's GIP

2013-02-15T03:09:21Z

Happy Valentine's Day!

I ♥♥♥ this icon. LOLed when I first saw it. Fits me perfectly. In fact, it was so relevant just this afternoon... XD

a meeting with my idiotic self

2013-02-13T05:50:23Z

So on Saturday morning, I went through all the trouble of going through my storage boxes in search of the sole backup CD I brought with me here, confident it would contain the zip of these icon textures, only to very, very sadly discover that it's not in the disc. I was so mad! Of all the icon resources I don't have with me and accessibly stored somewhere, it's my best and most useful one. I'm sure the reason I didn't have it in the disc is I thought I could always just download the zip from my 4shared account anytime, but I didn't count on forgetting about the account causing it to expire and the zip along with it. What made it worse was when I found the disc, I got sooo excited only to be let way, way down in the end. I got so depressed afterward, didn't want to continue on with the day. Aarrrrgh!!

I'm tempted to ask around if anyone who downloaded it before still has it and if they could please share it with me. But I know that would be a long shot so... :(

On a much happier note, Friday night I discovered iconriot and found some really great icons in there so much so that I'm mentioning it in this post.

Also, I posted a new layout at grafikitty and the stylesheet is located hurr.

my kind of stuff

2013-02-07T07:39:43Z

I'll admit that I've had this post's draft for several days now. Posting it before it becomes truly outdated. Almost didn't again tonight. Aargh, the mind! It is so distracted!

My verdict is out on Garbage's latest album Not Your Kind of People and...I like it. It's not their best, but I like it. It gets a little dragging towards the end but there are definitely several standout and memorable tracks: “Beloved Freak” which is beautiful but not as crushingly perfect as “It's All Over But the Crying,” “Bright Tonight” and the title track “Not Your Kind of People.” The first single released from the album “Blood For Poppies” as well as “Big Bright World” and “Felt” are reminiscent of late eighties to early nineties new wave and alternative rock even though the opening riffs of “Felt” sounds to me like a Kelly Clarkson song. But hey, I like some of Kelly Clarkson's songs so that's okay.

Though I must admit I was really torn at first listen and it reminded me of BeautifulGarbage wherein tracks are generally lackluster, forgettable and sometimes contrived. But most of Not Your Kind has grown on me so, yes, I like it.

In other music news, I totally do not appreciate the fact that Imagine Dragons' “It's Time” and The Lumineers' “Ho Hey” has recently gotten a lot more airplay everywhere when I've been hearing and loving these songs since the middle of last year. Suffice to say, I'm quickly tiring of these songs. I might already be tired of them. And I think the same can be said of “Little Talks” by Of Monsters and Men which I've been hearing even earlier last year. I very much hope this doesn't happen to “Trojans” by Atlas Genius and “Closer” by Tegan and Sara. Especially “Closer” because I love it so much right now. Also love how infectious Tegan's dance is and how into singing the song she is in the music video (if I'm right that that is Tegan, not Sara) which are actually a big part of why I like the song.

So the other day I went to ABC.com to watch last week's episodes of Happy Endings. Rather stupid of the site to switch the order of episodes “The Marry Prankster” and “Our Best Friend's Wedding.” When I was watching the latter which dealt with the gang going to a wedding expo for Penny and Pete, I was like, Wait, wait a minute! Penny and Pete's engaged?! When did this happen?? Surely the show spotlighted this momentous occasion given that Penny is the perennial true love-hunting single girl in the show. And then I watched “The Marry Prankster” and everything fell into place. “The Marry Prankster,” by the way, was muy excelente even though Penny and Pete's engagement was spoiled for me. Totally loved Penny and Max's reaction when they realized Pete was proposing, and the whole Usual Suspects/Keyser Soze reference brought a satisfied smile to my face.

But as much as I'm cool with Penny getting engaged to Pete especially since Pete is such a good looking man (Nick Zano, who sometimes conjures a young Brad Pitt*) and Penny duly deserves a good looking man like that, I'm a little saddened by this major turn of events because it means Penny's eventful single girl storyline is very much on its way to its happy ending (or so it seems). I feel it's too soon. But then I realize of course that's because I only started watching the show last year during the latter half of its second season so I haven't been able to witness all of Penny's dating hijinks. Besides, shows got to develop, shows gotta move forward and I do see the show's overall direction still promises tons of comedic possibilities. (*Just want to point out that I' m pretty sure the show's not at all lost on how good looking Pete/Nick Zano is; I believe there were clear reference(s) to that in “The Marry Prankster” if I remember correctly.)

Also just want to say that because I've recently seen some old interviews of the cast on Youtube, Happy Endings is so not Friends. Heller. The similarities end with both shows having the same number of main characters (six), Jane is a controlling neat freak like Monica, and Jane/Eliza Coupe is also like Rachel/Jennifer Aniston in that they have nice hair. But that's it and it's so not Friends. I find Happy Endings' humor so much better; it's more clever and whimsical like 30 Rock. And this leads me to wonder if I ever really liked Friends. I mean, I watched it and followed it a good deal, but can't say I have fond feelings for the show like I do for Will & Grace.

Speaking of “heller,” it's a curious but pleasant surprise that Happy Endings uses that expression.

In other TV-related news, must catch up on Castle, Scandal and The Big Bang Theory (if there are any new episodes, that is) and watch this past Sunday's The Mentalist...Oh no, no, wait...I think it was a rerun because of the Superbowl. Oh well.

my eyes! oh my eyesss!!

2013-02-05T05:01:04Z

An addendum to my previous post:

When I woke up this morning and laid in bed trying to will myself to get up, it suddenly dawned on me that the reason I found small but still readable and not at all tiny text blurry while I was making these icons is because I've aged a couple of years and I'm older now...

Oh my god. Nnnnnooooo...!!

back in the habit

2013-02-05T04:29:56Z

So I recently got into an icon-making mood and the results of that bout of inspiration are here. Mainly just wanted to see if I've still got it and, well...I think I do. And although the number of icons in that post doesn't seem to show it, this sudden resurgence of icon-making creativity wasn't a wholly joyous event because I was almost immediately reminded of the negative effects of indulging myself in anything Livejournal- or icon-making-related: procrastinating, staying up and sleeping late, smoking more than usual, eating junk food instead of a full meal or not eating at all, allowing daydreams to take up all of my mindspace making me distracted, etc. and it didn't feel good. At times I felt this is how it's like to relapse into an old addiction. I still can get very obsessive over the littlest of things because that's just who I am.

At the same time, however, I enjoyed it a great deal, too, and want to make more icons and whatnot whenever life allows it because I truly do miss it: tinkering with things, creating things, learning things, having a fun, creative hobby. That's what got me into Livejournal in the first place. To compose, put things together, to create, to exercise the mind and be inspired. To have full control over something. Plus those negative effects I mentioned above weren't as bad as before because this time around I have a job that helps bring me back to my senses and balance everything out. What also helped was the fact that I'm now slightly more confident about my icon-making/Photoshopping skills. The trick I've realized is to not make a big deal about it and just have fun, which quite obviously can be applied to almost everything else in life and I really should always remember that.

But what's a post that's Livejournal-related without a few complaints about Livejournal, specifically about its current site tools and features? And so: I do not like that when editing a journal entry, the text box expands according to the length of the entry, so when it's really long (e.g. a post with a number of stylesheets in it), it takes longer to scroll between the top and bottom of the page. Then, in the default entry view, I do not like that they've moved the entry tags to the bottom of the page and changed the default font from Verdana to Arial. I mean, I am a fan of Arial, I use it all the time, I love it! It's just that...Well, okay, it just takes some getting used to.

Also just want to mention that it was such pain putting that icon post together because Photobucket's new site version doesn't sort photos alphabetically by filename. I got so frustrated by it that I decided to write Photobucket and ask them to bring back the option to switch to their old version. I was able to do so in one of my other Photobucket accounts, but apparently they had already taken that option out sometime afterward. They replied with this:

Good Afternoon,

The option to opt out of Beta is no longer available.

In an effort to complete the new site we will no longer be supporting the Legacy site (Old Photobucket). Unfortunately we need to place all of our focus on the new site in an effort to test and release all of our user requested features.

Well, then, better work fast, Photobucket!

paid time, baby, yeah!

2013-02-03T00:44:12Z

So got myself paid time yesterday after weeks of deliberation, and thus I am reminded of a quote from Paulo Coelho: “If it's still in your mind, it is worth taking the risk.” And this time I paid with my own money. So if it happens I end up not using it and go MIA from Livejournal again, I won't feel as bad and guilty as before.

On a completely unrelated note, even though it might seem relevant: Time flies so fast. Where does it go?

out of the blue

2013-01-18T07:11:00Z

So downloaded Garbage's latest album, Not Your Kind of People from Amazon because $1 credit is expiring soon. A little stupid of me not to think of it sooner.

Listening to Garbage whilst surfing through Livejournal...

Ah. Those were the days.

dear livejournal...

2010-02-10T02:04:02Z

I do miss you sometimes, you know?

Especially the userpics. Oh yes, the userpics...

time for a cool change

2008-11-08T03:29:06Z

As I was about to have dinner this past Wednesday night, I remembered it was presidential election time in the US, so I turned the TV on to CNN and immediately found that the official results were already in and Obama won. I called my housemate from the kitchen, told her the news and asked her to come and watch with me, and we were both getting shivers from seeing and hearing snippets of Obama’s victory speech and all the info and stats on the results (we were also so amazed by how fast the whole elections passed). I was even getting a little teary-eyed from all of it and I got a bit Obama-obsessed afterwards: stuck to CNN, then Indecision 2008: America’s Choice, then back to CNN for Obama’s victory speech in full, then the day after that night, still scoured the channels for more on Obama’s win as well as for news on transition developments...I don’t think I’ve ever been so interested in watching the news! Which is really funny considering I almost forgot about the elections and I wasn’t really paying attention to it except for knowing that Obama and McCain were the presidential candidates and Tina Fey looks a lot like Sarah Palin that she portrayed Palin twice on SNL (though sadly I haven’t seen those sketches in full :b).

I guess what makes it so emotional and inspiring is because, simply and truly, history was made. It’s such a new, progressive twist to a big and important aspect of world affairs that it offers so much optimism not only in terms of the hope that things may start looking up, but also for individuals on a personal level to believe anything is possible, people are given chances regardless of who they are, and the world is finally willing to try real fresh ideas and actions.

Of course, Obama’s quality of leadership remains to be seen. But it’s still overall a very happy occasion that things feel awesome for now. ;)

just passing by, pimping a post

2008-10-24T14:40:05Z

Sometime at the beginning of this month, while I was bored, procrastinating and in front of the computer (as in, the usual), I discovered I had banked a number of unfinished and unused layouts months ago...and I discovered these layouts while I was coding yet another one...! <-- Ha ha, such a shocker! XD So I told myself I should go finalize and share at least one of them soon, and that I finally did today, so there’s some new stylesheets for the Smooth Sailing layout over at grafikitty...

Click on the thumbnails for full previews, which are pretty large so warning for that. And their stylesheets are located here.

They’re very simple layouts because I made them just to get to know the Smooth Sailing style so that maybe later on, I can come up with more interesting stuff. And thus the name of the template, ta~daah! I also thought it was about time I learned something else other than Flexible Squares.

Now I’d love to stay and chat some more, but I’ve already spent most of my energy and brainpower for today and there are other things I’d rather do, so maybe some other time. ;)

finally, the finale...

2008-05-24T09:32:12Z

I know it’s already pretty late to write about the finale episode of America’s Next Top Model Cycle 10 as it’s been more than week now since it aired and I’m sure the news about the winner has been everywhere. But because this will probably be my last post on anything ANTM for a while until maybe the next cycle, and because I already started writing it and it’d be such a waste not to, I might as well finish and post it.

And so, the winner is...Whitney, the first ever full-figured contestant to go as far as the finale and eventually win ANTM...! Even though Whitney was never my favorite and I was rooting for Anya, I think the judges still made a good choice, Whitney reasonably deserved it and like I said here, I totally welcome the very refreshing outcome. That said, I think ANTM has to some extent redeemed itself from the disastrous Cycle 9.

I already sensed Whitney was going to win when the judges’ final deliberation was taking longer than what’s been usual. It was so obvious by then that the show was setting up for a different and “surprising” ending. Besides, I also already knew the judges (specifically J. Alexander of course) would favor Whitney’s performance in the finale runway show and that would totally work to her advantage. Her walk may have been a bit exaggerated and quite inappropriate for high fashion, but it did make more of an impact. Anya generally looked nervous and stiff that she didn’t create as much wind in her hair and the world knows how important wind in the hair is in ANTM.

And I’m just so glad it’s not Fatima. During the first elimination of the episode when Whitney and Fatima were the bottom two and then Tyra called Whitney to be the second finalist instead of Fatima, I literally jumped off my seat screaming for joy. I was like, finally, finally, Fatima’s gone! So, yes, that rumor about Fatima winning was completely off, what a relief, and I guess that, yeah, I got scared and made quite a fuss over nothing. But then again, because the rumor pretty much just had the true results the other way around (i.e. Whitney comes in third and Fatima wins), I’ve been thinking that whoever first started the rumor may have switched the two to mislead people on purpose...?

Oh who cares anymore? The cycle’s done!

Incidentally, I caught a story about the finale on E! News Weekend last week and it was mainly questioning whether or not Whitney winning is just a publicity stunt. And I was like, Duh, yeah, of course it’s a publicity stunt! Do you even have to ask? I believe that almost everything that happens in ANTM (and in every other reality TV show for that matter) is a publicity stunt one way or another so what’s new? It was pretty evident that E! just couldn’t find a controversially fresh way to treat the story.

Also last week, I caught the episode of Tyra’s talk show with them Fiercee Awards and I honestly enjoyed it regardless of how corny it really was because I just love seeing past ANTM contestants again and a lot of them were present in the show, like Caridee, Nicole (who was a real surprise to see considering she’s been completely MIA after Cycle 5), Heather and Jenah. Even Jade was there. Joanie was there, too, which made me very happy that I was squeeing lots like I always do whenever I see Joanie. I think it’s about time I formally proclaim Joanie as my top all-time favorite ANTM alum.

The only one missing that I would’ve really loved to have seen was Kahlen, another all-time fave. Lately I’ve been really curious about whatever happened with Kahlen post-ANTM and what she’s currently up to because I kept seeing this Max Factor commercial plenty of times on TV and one of the models in it looks so much like Kahlen that it made me think it’s very possible that it is her. But that notion was quickly dispelled when I finally did some research on the matter and read Kahlen’s Wikipedia page. Even though I’m disappointed that it’s not Kahlen, I was amused and somewhat relieved to find the answer so fast, the resemblance has already been noticed and my imagination wasn’t just playing tricks on me.

More recently, I’ve been focusing on the US version of Make Me A Supermodel because I’ve developed a crush on Casey after that gay sexual chemistry photo shoot he had with Perry and well, I’m just really such a sucker for pretty boys. 8D I already finished the show yesterday. Naturally, I was pissed off when Casey got eliminated in Episode 10 and I totally agree that America voted wrong during that week, but the way the show turned out afterwards was enough to make up for the mistake. Plus, all in all, I was rooting more for Holly to win and I’m glad she did in the end. She was the first to stand out for me from the beginning of the season and she really proved herself worthy to win the competition.

we have no creative title today

2008-05-18T08:23:11Z

I’ve updated grafikitty with a small batch of old CLAMP icons over here. Most of these icons were my entries to clamp_lims last year, finally got around to posting them after all this time.

The update also marks the start of my changing the way I format grafikitty posts, particularly the way I title them, and I know this is a totally trivial thing to say, but it’s important to me for my own personal reference. This is how obsessive-compulsive I am.

countdown to ANTM 10’s finale

2008-05-13T04:39:08Z

Watched Episode 12 of America’s Next Top Model Cycle 10 last Friday night, and it’s now down to Anya, Whitney and Fatima for the finale this week. I swear, I’m getting really nervous about it because those rumors of a black girl (Fatima) winning here are really becoming very likely to be true.

Oh well. At least I can say I wasn’t warned...?

Then on Saturday night, watched Tyra’s talk show because ANTM judges Paulina Porizkova and Nigel Barker were the guests. Paulina talked about how she warned Tyra before signing on to ANTM that she was going to be brutally honest with her judging. I thought that was a little funny because, although she was pretty frank with Dominique looking like a transvestite, Paulina is all in all nice and harmless in ANTM unlike how she was during Tyra’s show to those guest aspiring models, and she’s definitely not on Janice Dickinson’s level of scathing bluntness. Unless of course Paulina’s just buffered by ANTM’s editing or maybe she’s just warming up.

At another point in the show, Nigel Barker shared a really strange anecdote about his visit to the Philippines...was it just last year or was it already two years ago? I can’t remember. Anyway, I wonder if the story is true because what was so strange about it was that it mainly involved a male fan...Weird.

Lastly, on a totally unrelated-to-ANTM note, Chae Rim’s latest drama Formidable Rivals (or just plain Rivals) premiered on KBS World last night. The first episode was only so-so that I’m a little disappointed. I don’t think the show will offer anything really different and unique from other K-dramas (or at least the ones I’ve seen), and it’s looking to be more drama and action than quirky romantic comedy like Dalja’s Spring which I would prefer. Plus, Chae Rim isn’t particularly cute in this drama. But I guess at least I’d have something to kill time with when there’s nothing else to watch during Monday and Tuesday nights before the other shows I’ve been following...if I’m correct about the airtime, that is. KBS World has yet to update their site with more info about the show.

it’s time to start the dying!

2008-05-07T09:49:07Z

Just as I’d predicted, Lauren got eliminated in Episode 10 because she screwed up her commercial shoot. I already saw it coming early on in the episode when she was becoming distant from the other girls, the Tyra Mail about the shoot arrived and then she remarked on how CoverGirl’s not her type of thing. I was really disappointed with her at the end because just like what the judges said, she didn’t even try.

My prediction for Stacy-Ann was correct, too. That is, she got eliminated in Episode 9 because of yet another unremarkable photo.

So now that all my personal favorites are gone, I’m just watching the show for the sake of finishing it. However, I’m beginning to like Anya and root for her to win. I agree with what some of the judges are saying about her, that out of all the remaining contestants, she’s the one who really fits the model bill, and I think she has the best personality among all the remaining girls. She’s not fake or catty and I’ve always found her weird accent rather amusing than annoying. Sure, she can be a little dense and she’s getting to be a little timid, but she’s nice and I very much prefer an ANTM winner’s personality to be considerably nice and likable.

On that note, Fatima must go. She’s the fakest of them all...!! I absolutely hate it whenever she complains about other contestants who act differently between the house and the judging room, and she talks about it as if she’s not the same when she exactly is, she’s all bitchy and arrogant during interviews, she started almost all the catfights and arguments in the house, but then she’s all innocent and humble during judging. She’s such a big hypocrite! I don’t even understand why she acts so high and mighty. I find her so fake that even her confident bitch attitude seems put-on.

Even Lauren can testify to Anya’s modest personality and Fatima’s fakery.

But I’m getting a bad feeling about this cycle’s finale since I realize that there are only two episodes left and Fatima’s still in the running. I remember reading these pre-cycle rumors/spoilers and one of them said that a black girl wins. I know they’re unreliable and they’re mostly speculation, but some of these rumors turned out to be pretty close and accurate and it did get this cycle’s international destination right (even though they kept saying it’s Milan instead of Rome or just plain Italy). The one that said a black girl wins even referenced Whitney. What if it’s true and Fatima comes out as the winner?

Please, I really hope not...

AXN Beyond has been showing reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it’s currently in the middle of Season 5, which is my favorite because it’s the most memorable to me. When the season originally played here on other channels, that’s when I started to really faithfully watch the show, doing all I can not to miss any episodes and to avoid spoilers. It was also when I found out that a lot of my friends were fellow big fans of the show that it was a usual topic of our conversations.

And I just love Glory. And I just love watching Spike being all foolish in love with Buffy all over again. X3 Also, Buffy’s wardrobe is beginning to be really stylish by this season, or at least to my taste. It’s much more confident, mature, sleek slayer and much less trendy California girl. Though in terms of Buffy’s wardrobe, my favorite season of the show would have to be the last one.

Which brings me to one of the main reasons why I enjoy watching Buffy reruns, especially the earlier seasons, and that’s because it’s fun to see and recognize fashion trends from the past, either remembering how popular one thing was or how I fell victim to them in one way or another.

Speaking of AXN Beyond, I wonder why last Monday night’s Supernatural episode was so short? It was the episode with the fairytale murders and it seemed like it only ran for thirty minutes.

Then, last night, I watched the premiere episode of Pushing Daisies on ETC 2nd Avenue. It’s cute and all, and it’s got an interesting and quite unique premise, but I couldn’t help thinking of it the whole time as some sort of combination of Amélie and Babe.

Some weeks ago, I was catching a few episodes of the Filipino-dubbed version of Bokura Ga Ita on Hero, got so curious about it that I looked it up, found it and watched it. Finished it in a week and got so depressed afterwards. It’s not because the anime’s ending was bittersweet, but it’s because after I finished watching it, I found out that that wasn’t the actual end of the story, the manga is still ongoing and there are rumors going around about another season of the anime. Though I’m not exactly sure why that frustrated me. I guess I just wanted it to be a one-shot type of deal because right now, I can’t really spare the attention and patience necessary to follow up on a not-so-popular series like it. It’s so frustrating that I can’t find any reliable and up-to-date sources for the series on the web.

More recently, I watched the NANA anime but only halfheartedly. Meaning, I only watched a bunch of episodes because I just wanted to know where the story goes after the end of the first live-action movie and I couldn’t find the second one. And I only continued watching the anime when I realized some of my favorite seiyuus are in it, like Tomokazu Seki and Toshiyuki Morikawa (I was like, Ryuuki! Conrad! XD). Although I’m curious as to how NANA’s story ends, I’ve had my fill of the anime for now and I’ll only finish it once I’m feeling up to it again.

And in other news, my paid account expired weeks ago and so I’m back to Basic. At first I was a little pissed off about it because I wanted to tweak my layout one last time, I wasn’t able to log on to do so until it was too late (I got sick on the week my paid time expired), and if I do the tweaking now, it might disable my layout’s advanced customizations. Though all in all for some reason, being back to a Basic Account is such a relief, it feels liberating and quite cathartic, like a load has been lifted off my shoulders.

By the way, whatever happened to the whole LiveJournal Basic Account debacle? Considering LJ’s never made any direct mention of it in news since this post, I’m guessing this is the last chapter of the issue. If that’s the case, then that means LJ’s decision is final and we Basic Account supporters have lost the fight, haven’t we?

Oh well.

on episode 7 of america’s next top model 10 & other shows

2008-04-08T18:04:51Z

Aww, Claire got eliminated. She was my favorite so I was rooting for her to win or at least make it to the top three, and I thought she’d at least make it to wherever this cycle’s overseas destination is going to be. But I didn’t find her elimination unreasonable; her Fuerza Bruta photo and overall performance in the episode were truly unimpressive and I totally understood what the judges meant by her being “one note.” With that and the fact that she was also in the bottom two in Episode 6, she obviously had become a weak contender.

After watching the show, I realized that I actually predicted this to happen, that it’s possible Claire would turn out to be like Lisa of Cycle 9 who started out strong but got eliminated in the middle of the competition. Though unlike my predicted reason and Lisa’s case (Lisa got eliminated because she was cracking under pressure and eventually fell into a pattern of mediocre poses), Claire became too confident and lax with herself that she became stale instead of getting increasingly outstanding and versatile.

Now I’m rooting for Lauren to win because I’d like to see an awkward artsy rocker girl finally win ANTM. She just needs to start getting really serious about the competition, push herself so much more to improve on her shortcomings right away, because I sense a commercial shoot looming nearby and based on previous cycles, the awkward girl usually messes that up and gets eliminated.

I’d also like Stacy-Ann to go far in the show. She makes me laugh (the show should include more of her funny sound bites), and I love her runway walk and presence (she should’ve won the Tuleh runway challenge in Episode 4, IMO). I just wish she had better photos. Plus, she does resemble Cycle 6 winner Danielle/Dani and that can work against her.

As for the rest of the girls, I don’t think much of them. Whitney’s good, she has a gorgeous face, and it’s refreshing to see she’s not falling into ANTM’s clichés for plus-size contestants. But I just don’t like her. Fatima, too, I really don’t see anything special about her and I honestly don’t want her to go further. I don’t think she’s naturally talented as a model and this was all the more evident during Episode 7’s panel when Nigel Barker asked her to pose on the spot and she gave this really blah, corny, WTF pose. Then there’s Dominique who I generally think is okay even with all her narcissism and sometimes irrational behavior, but I’m sure she’ll get eliminated a la Lisa of Cycle 5. That is, even if she and her pictures get better and better, the judges will ultimately decide she doesn’t have a fresh, young face.

Overall, especially now that Claire’s gone, this cycle is boring. No one stands out as extremely fierce, as in, FIERCE. Compared to this, Cycle 9 was better in terms of contestants having really mad posing skills or interesting looks (e.g. Jenah and Heather). Hopefully, though, Cycle 10 won’t end with a catastrophic outcome like Cycle 9...

Yeah, I’m one of the many people who thought and still believe Saleisha didn’t deserve to win Cycle 9. Not only because she “cheated” -- her having an already considerable modeling/acting background and ties with Tyra Banks -- but mainly because she clearly wasn’t the best and the judges seemed to go below their standards during the cycle that they didn’t see that.

Speaking of which, I caught Episode 3 of Cycle 9 playing on TV late Sunday night, including Bianca and Saleisha’s “You’re borderline plus-size!” fight and Saleisha’s incessant bragging of her modeling experience, and so I got annoyed about the cycle’s end results all over again.

I’ve also been catching the US version of Make Me A Supermodel, which I think is classier than ANTM and I guess for that reason, Make Me A Supermodel’s contestants are a lot more modelly looking. But both shows are basically the same and the only difference between them is that Make Me A Supermodel has male contestants and an American Idol type of elimination.

And in other, non-fashion/reality TV happenings, Season 3 of Supernatural premiered on AXN Beyond last night and I thought it was a great freaky episode. I only started watching Supernatural recently because of the channel’s reruns and I’m glad the new season didn’t take so long after they ended. Though Supernatural coincides with House reruns on AXN (House, BTW, is another show I just recently started watching), but because both shows have replays throughout the week, that’s okay.