Caption This!!!

This has got to be the funniest thing I saw this week.... it just struck me when I happen upon this couple, totally asleep and oblivious of all the commotion that was happening around them - as it was right in the middle of the day, in a very busy area... I just had to sneak a shot of the two of them... I do feel GUILTY invading their privacy but I also just had to...Not really sure how to caption it either... the scenario that I thought of is that they have been married for ages... and this is a typical date for the two of them... go out for a bite and fall asleep out of boredom from not having anything to talk about... a very scary reality for some... and one that I sure hope I will not fall into...

Well, enjoy the photo and send me your takes on it if you have any... just for the fun of it... Hope your are all enjoying the rest of your weekend in your neck of the woods...

Revolutionary Road : Movie Review

Long overdue review...saw this film while I was in Manila a couple of weeks ago but am just getting around to reviewing it now.. not that I have been too busy or too indifferent about the film -- more like, I was totally shaken by it that I had to see it again just to reaffirm all the feelings felt while watching it the first time. Revolutionary Road , I warn you, is not a very joyful film, nor is it easy to watch. But it is a MUST SEE not only if you are fans of the TITANIC duo, but also because the movie is simply entertaining. It achieves what not many films these days do. touches you, questions you, and pull you into the characters' lives.

Sam Mendes' of American Beauty fame strikes GOLD again with his film adaptation of a great American novel - faithful, intelligent, and superbly cast... If I was not a fan of Leonardo then, I sure am now.... He delivered on the acting promise he showed with Blood Diamond...and Kate Winslet, who recently just won an OSCAR is robbed as she should ahve been NOMINATED and WIN for this particular film... certainly one of the most talented actresses of today, Winslet continually surprises us all with her various film outings -- here, she surprises me in a whole other way. Here she is silent, unlikeable, emotionally close to the edge of insanity, sometimes cold, and all very human portrayal of April Wheeler is one of the best performances of the decade by her, or by anyone. Truly deserving of an Oscar.

This film truly benefits from the amazing direction by Sam Mendes. He comes back with strong, after American Beauty, with this project. The writing is sooo top notch, with both of the main characters, Frank and April Wheeler, so open, so alive -- such 3-dimensional characters. The film let us inside their lives, and it does so with great passion. The film itself is so beautiful, so alive, yet at the same time, so dark to what the film is about. Even the music, the original score, is so unsettling, perfectly balanced to what each scene brought.

Revolutionary Road is not a film for everyone. I can definitely see some audiences hating it, especially those who love to see happy endings, but it should certainly be respected -- for its ambition, for the things it accomplishes and every thing it portrays. This could very well be Sam Mendes' major masterpiece... and one that will forever be embedded in the minds of those who gets to see the film.

tokidoki X bearbrick II

Saturday February 28th is the big release of the second tokidoki x Bearbrick at Royal T, in Culver City. We are very excited about adding a second Bearbrick to the tokidoki family, LA Robber!!!

This was released in conjunction to the opening of the tokidoki shop on Melrose Ave. - LA district.

To my DELIGHT, the local shop in TAIWAN, Monster Gear, got a few in and I was LUCKY enough to have been notified to pick one up.... LA ROBBER tokidoki Bearbrick

guess i should not have complained...

LOLs... was just complaining how HOT it is becoming already - see last entry - and right away, mother nature answered with a couple of days of hard rain.... Monday & Tuesday, it was raining like cats a& dogs here in Taipei.... and COLD!!! Good thing the last two days I had so much to do indoors, I really did not have to venture out in the wet coldness... 'cept when I went out for exercise... it is nice to have rain now and again, especially at nite.... the sound of the pouring rain is music to my ears and enough to put me to sleep right away.. I just wish it would be limited to night time... I get such a relaxing, nostalgic, moody feeling when it rains...

Well, today is Wednesday, another day.... not sure what mother nature has in store for me... already it is cold & foggy out - but like our emotions, it changes as quickly as we can snap our fingers....

Today is a HOT one!!!!

Just as when I was enjoying the SPRING like weather we had been having, the Season's a changing again in Taipei - it is HOT, HOT, HOT! As if SUMMER is already threatening to come sooner than expected...

The trip to church today was a trying one - with the sun shining brightly and the heat piercing through the clothing... even through my jeans... boo hoo...

So once again, we have to wait for the sun to set before going for a run by the river.... the POOL where we swim will start looking like a PUBLIC POOL from HELL - with way too many kids taking up lanes for swimming classes and just goofing around -escaping the summer heat... and errands will need to be run at nite as going out during the day will just be way too draining and frustrating - with the sun heating up the pavements, as well as everything else....

TAKE ME AWAY!!!

==========================
What put me i a GREAT MOOD though are these two other cuties I got from the gals last nite.... tokidoki mimobot, my belated XMAS present from Sue & Cecilia...
Plus the figure am missing from the MARUKO-chan Premium program by McDonalds back in December of last year... Juliana got me this a while back and somehow we both have forgotten... now my set is COMPLETE!!!!

What a TREAT!!!

Just got home from dinner with the gals (Juliana, Sue & Cecilia -- David, too!) and am soooo ecstatic.... Sue & Cecila gifted me with this SPECIAL bear issued for COACH, Taiwan...
Only yesterday, while at the bookstore, I came across an issue of Marie Claire with a FREE GIFT of the same bear but in a different style... it seems for the magazine there were 4 styles issued (3 pictured and 1 a MYSTERY surprise) -- randomly, one accompanies each issue sold.... and as an added BONUS, this particular issue has my FAVE Taiwanese Actress, Shu Qi on the cover!!! The one I got from the Marie Claire issue I purchased.

It seems, earlier today happened to be COACH's VIP Fashion Show as well, which the gals attended... at the show, there was also a VIP SALE in which, with a purchase of NT$20,000 (about $600US) you are GIFTED the SPECIAL Bear made just for the event... and since Sue & Cecilia are such Coach fanatics, they were able to get 3with their total purchases... and tonite over dinner, am LUCKY enough to be gifted of one of them!!!Thanks Again Sue & Cecilia!!!

...in bloom...

SEASONS CHANGE
Springtime has DEFINITELY arrived.... even the tree right outside my window is already blooming with flowers... simply beautiful to look at each and every morning....Truly makes waking up each and every morning a whole lot easier...

Happy Graduation Day, Nic!!!

We are all Proud of you!!! Next Up, College... you will do well, am sure!!!

everything's a-cHaNgE-ing....

7 Quotes on CHANGE:

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We do not succeed in changing things according to our desire, but gradually our desire changes.
- Marcel Proust

All love shifts and changes. I don't know if you can be wholeheartedly in love all the time.
- Julie Andrews


Our days are a kaleidoscope. Every instant a change takes place. ... New harmonies, new contrasts, new combinations of every sort. ... The most familiar people stand each moment in some new relation to each other, to their work, to surrounding objects.
- Henry Ward Beecher

The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.
- John F. Kennedy

All is change; all yields its place and goes.
- Euripides


For good and evil, man is a free creative spirit. This produces the very queer world we live in, a world in continuous creation and therefore continuous change and insecurity.
- Joyce Cary

One must never lose time in vainly regretting the past or in complaining against the changes which cause us discomfort,
for change is the essence of life.
- Anatole France

A New Fave Spot : Greyone Social, Rockwell

Was in Rockwell to see WATCHMEN, plus check out ANTHOLOGY, then I happen upon this shop, Greyone Social. Really hip and trendy place for clothing and of course, VINYL TOYS... and the people to help you are just really friendly...Definitely, another must visit place for tees, hats, shoes, and toys....
what else could you ask for???They also have another branch at Greenbelt 5

"the family that EaTs together..."

"...LaUgHs Together"

a visit in Manila is never complete unless I can take my family out for at least one meal... since my Mom is feeling better, I decided to get her out to the city for a bit of shopping and then dinner at SAISAKI, an BUFFET TYPE resto that serves Chinese, Japanese and Filipino food.... always a good choice with so many to please... we were joined by my nieces, Ameera & Nicole, my cousin Nanay, my half brother Cholo, and Kuya Ric... sadly, my nephew ace is missing as he is in the US at the moment...

As always, Ameera never fails to crack us all up with her stories and jokes... Nicole is always lost between texting and her iPod... and my half brother forever interrupted by his work, calling.... this time around though the thing that really cracked us all up is seeing my Mom come back to the table with a plate full of Japanese food and to my surprise, a BIIIIG BLOG of WASABI!!! Forgetting that it is her first time with Sushis, I asked my Mom, if she really liked Wasabi that much... to which she replied: "what wasabi? isn't this Green Ube (a Filipino dessert made out of TARO)?" Lols.... my nieces and I were rolling on the floor with uncontrollable laughter....
Rest of the Photos Here!

Jaded??? Me???

"And I feel bare naked
And I just can't take it
I'm getting jaded
No I just can't fake it anymore
'Cuz I'm bare naked
And I know life's what you make it
Wish I could float away
to some other day "-Bare Naked - Jennifer Love Hewitt

as much as I hated being down with a bit of a stomach flu a couple of weekends ago - I was HAPPY about one thing.... with nothing much that I was able to do as I was basically bedridden - most of the time, I just listened to my iPod and just let all the songs play... then I got to this Jennifer Love Hewitt song from a few years back, Bare Naked.... I remember liking the song when it came out... and still feel the same way about it each and everytime I hear it...

Since I had nothing else preoccupying my thoughts while listening, I was able to really hear the lyrics once more.... sparked by the song - the mind wanders... and I start analyzing some recent comments about me by a couple of friends while discussing matters of the heart.... the one that sticks out like a sore eye is: "Rudi -- as you get older, you get more and more jaded!"

YOWZA!!!

"Me! Jaded!" I certainly hope not.... I tend to think of myself as someone who is still very optimistic in life.... passionate and actually tend to romanticized a lot of things... heck, why else am I crushing all the time.... I think that sometimes when I speak, people mistake my comments, coming from my realistic side, as one coming from a very jaded point of view...

yeah yeah, I have had my share of relationships -- both good and bad.... and I too have been hurt to a point that I should have given up on love... but it is just not the way I am.... just because I tend to just let life roll along and go with the flow, does not mean I have given up and just living day to day to day....

I still believe in LOVE and all that it comes with: hope, promises, happiness, sorrow, pain. And I still do CRAVE it with PASSION!

Tears of Happiness

Photos that brought Tears of Happiness in my eyes this morning....
Ace is flanked by Christine and Michael
Ace, Michael, Ate Flo, Christine & Roger (Ace's DadAndrew, Michael & sorry, not sure who?Ate Flo, Rowena & Kuya BenjieAte Flo, Kuya Benjie's wife, was kind enough to forward these photos to me... as I had previously mentioned, Ace is in America now doing his OJT, but before he starts the 3 month internship - he was able to take a drive down to Las Vegas with his Dad... in turn, he got to visit his cousins, Michael, Christine and Andrew.... first time they all got to meet.... which in turn brings much joys in my heart....
For more on Kuya Benjie's Family - Pls Click Here: "Blood Truly is Thicker Than Water"

A Piece Of Heaven!!!

Last nite, at the last minute, Lyn invited us to go up to OOLAI mountains (southeast of Taipei and about an hour and a half, drive when there is no traffic) for a dip in the Hot Springs. She had a few hours to spare before Shaun and her goes off to CHINA for their Honeymoon. Being a really cold nite that it was, we were all up for it - and am sooo glad now we did.. it was PURE HEAVEN!!!

OOLAI is known for some of the BEST Hot Springs in Taiwan... and we ended up in what's got to be one of the BEST, Cloud Spring Garden... So serene as there was hardly anyone being it was a MONDAY nite.... so we had the place to ourselves till midnite when they closed.... 3 biiig pools of Hot Springs in different levels of hotness, cold springs, steam and sauna, water massage jacuzzi, real massage rooms, and lots of places to sit and lay about -- all the while enjoying the natural beauty/scenery of OOLAI...

Loved everything about last nite, if there was one complain I can have, it is the fact that for the first time I FORGOT MY CAMERA.... oh well, just gives me a reason to go back again.... and I hope soon!!!

Sunday is for torturing the family.... LOLs!!!

am sure we all can relate, at one point in our lives or another growing up, on this one family rule: "Sunday is Family Day!"... Am sure that many will also AGREE that there were plenty of times when we wished it was not... Somehow, our parents manages to torture us with what they had in store or planned each and every Sunday... for me, it was always fishing, crabbing, or bowling.... whoa, gives me the goosebumps just thinking about them....

yesterday, it was just like that for me and The Wus.... what should have been a day of relaxing, feasting, and going to the movies - turned into a 6 hour bike ride -- much to Jason and Tori's surprise and dissatisfaction... especially for Tori, who has never really ridden bikes before....

Started the ride a little after 12PM -- it was a scenic ride and was a lovely day for it... no sun... and just the right amount of breeze... we promised them a treat at the destination place ,Danshuei (a little over 2 hrs ride)... like Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco -- full of revelers, tourists, and lots of delicacies offered... and then a ride back on the Subway system... WRONG!!! we got the delicacies alright... and saw lots of people... but alas, it was after 5PM and one can only ride the subway with their bikes till 4PM.... Poor Tori, no other choice but to ride the bike back..
Got back at home a little after 7PM -- legs all wobbly from hours and hours of peddling... hungry... and most of all, all our asses were aching from the long ride... needless to say, we all do not want to be on a bike again for another 6 months or so.... WHEW!!!
TORTUROUS PHOTOS HERE

it's over.... FINALLY!!!

Just after midnite.... and we just got home from the Beitou Hotspings where we were treated by Lyn and Shaun for helping out their FINAL WEDDING RECEPTION Banquet.... Am pretty positive we are all in agreeament in being GLAD is is all Finally over... really over.... LOLS!!!!
Reception Photos Here!