TV Premieres

September is sure going to be busy. For one, I'm now alone from what used to be a three-man team here at work. One is on maternity leave and the other just recently transferred to another department. Add to that, I'll also be on leave for a couple of days when Oliver and Analyn visit so I can imagine that the first two weeks will be a bit hectic but even so, I can't help but be excited and no, it's not because of my workload. I can't help but be excited about the shows that will premiere soon. Here's the list of shows that I'm most looking forward to.

Top Chef Just Desserts - September 15

I have been a Top Chef fan, now that they're focusing on desserts which I believe to be the most important part of a meal, I simply can't resist. Gail Simmons takes over hosting duties.

Bleep My Dad Says - September 23

I like William Shatner and the trailer alone is already funny! 

Glee - September 21

I don't think anything more needs to be said about why I'm excited about Glee.

Cougar Town - September 22

Jules, Laurie, Elle, Greyson, Andy and Bobby plus news of Jennifer Aniston when it premieres. Yey!

30 Rock - September 23

One of the really funny shows on TV, also they're doing something original by airing an episode live! 

Outsourced - September 23

This one should be close to my heart though I haven't seen the film and the trailer looks promising.

Desperate Housewives - September 26

Ugly Betty alumna Vanessa White Williams (what was I thinking) joins the ladies of Wisteria Lane. I just hope she stays on for more than a season unlike what happened to Drea De Matteo and Alfre Woodard. 

The Experiment

Last Saturday, on our regular movie night, Abby suggested we watch "The Experiment" which I knew nothing about. After seeing the trailer, I realized that the film is based on the Stanford Experiment which I once read about in college.

The Stanford Experiment was a study conducted that to observe human responses to captivity. Originally planned to be a 24-day experiment, it lasted for only 6 days. The individuals selected to play the guards including the psychologist who was leading it began to treat the prisoners abusively. 

A book was later written about the experiment which was then adapated to the big screen "Das Experiement" by a German director. This film is the American remake written and directed by Prison Break's Paul Scheuring. 

The film stars Adrien Brody and Forest Whitaker, both were equally good which helped make the film more moving. Whitaker's character is so hateful that it leaves you wondering how someone who starts out a good guy can turn that way in just a few days. The police torture video comes to mind, those in power exploit their position. 

The film goes straight to DVD which is a bit sad. I would want as many people to watch this very powerful movie if only to realize that however unimaginable this happens in real life. All is not lost, however, as news also came out that another film "The Stanford Experiment" is in production starring Channing Tatum, Benjamin McKenzie and Kieran Culkin.

Samsung's Galaxy Tab

So Microsoft's Courier is no longer in play, this time Samsung releases a teaser for the upcoming Galaxy Tab set to rival Apple's IPad.

Check out video below:

Read more about it here!

Carnivore

It's Geno's last day with QA so we decided to eat out as a farewell lunch. We ended up going to Carnivore all the way at Vivo City since we both wanted to stuff ourselves silly. It's a churrascaria similar to where we went to to celebrate Abby's birthday.

The interiors were simple and it feels like eating by the beach. If we went to the place at night, it would have been nice to sit outdoors. 

We were given buttons that we can flip to let the passadors (meat waiters) know that we're ready for some food. 

We helped ourselves to a few appetizers and salad laid out on a small buffet table. I didn't take much just a few vegetables and a handful of pasta. As soon as we were seated, we flipped the buttons green and we were treated to an onslaught of meat, literally. 

It was meat after meat after meat. All were very flavorful and tasty, way better than the churrascaria in Katong Village. Geno and I couldn't stop ourselves from appreciating the food after every bite. 

The manager then suggested we try Guarana Antartica, apparently a best seller in some country even outselling Coke. I don't remember what it tastes like now but it was good, not too sweet but a bit pricey at SGD8 a can. 

The buffet excludes dessert so if you wanted something sweet, you have to order extra which is really not likely since I don't think there'll be space left on your tummy. Here we are after our meal.  

The only thing surprising though is that after exactly an hour, we were presented with our bill with no one asking for it. They then proceeded to clear our table. It was okay at that time since we were done but I feel it's a bit rude to do so any other time. On our way out, we checked out the posters outside to see if there's anywhere that states that patrons are given just an hour but we couldn't find any.

As if all the food we are were not enough, I met up with Choy for dinner at Yishun. We haven't gone out for quite some time so I really didn't want to pass it up. He suggested we eat at the Japanese Street Market which deserves a separate post. I wasn't able to take pictures so I'll have to come back. After dinner, we stayed a while and had coffee at Starbucks. They already have the cake/doughnut available but I passed. I just couldn't anymore. Lol. 

He gave me a goody back from BKK. It was nice catching up with him. 

Marriott Vacation Club

After church two Sundays ago, I saw the Marriott Vacation Club setup at Vivo City. They were offering good hotel rates for Marriott hotels so I approached them to inquire if they have an existing offer for the Marriott in Manila. I spoke to their representative, Brian, a fellow pinoy. He told me that they don't have packages in Manila but they have a few properties with very affordable rates but the catch is I have to attend a timeshare presentation at their office. I agreed and he booked an appointment for me to go to their office the following Sunday.

Come Sunday, Clarice and I went all the way to Suntec at City Hall where their offices are located. It was quite a long trip only to be terribly disappointed. The guard at the Suntec Offices lobby told us that the Marriott office was closed but I showed him my appointment slip so he decided to accompany us up. True enough, it was indeed closed. I am confused as to why this happened. If Marriott Vacation Club can't even keep track of their office hours, I wonder what kind of service they provide if you already signed up and is already a paying member.

So as not to make our trek completely pointless, we decided to have a buffet lunch over at Kuishin Bo. Since I have a sweet tooth, I headed straight to the dessert bar. There were a lot of choices but what made me happy were the chocolate pieces and the mochi balls. I also loved their green tea soft-serve ice cream.

This is my first plate and I have to say everything there is fresh. The tempura was wonderful, so wonderful that Clarice and I had four plates. 

I forgot to take pictures of my succeeding plates but I love Kushin Bo. It just simply doesn't compare to Sakura. Selections were plentiful and of acceptable quality. If there is one thing I regret it's the fact that the crabs were not available. When we asked about it, we were told that they only serve them for dinner.

Tayong Dalawa in Singapore

I'm curious. I've heard good reviews but I wasn't able to watch the series when it originally aired in Manila. 

Pictionary: Etel Pics

So I was going through my files and chanced upon my old phone pics from Etel.

"Cathy"

"Portia and Selle"

"Cathy getting a henna at Glorietta, with Micah"

"Portia and Team Lead Jas"

"Team Pollux Troy"

"Sadako"

And here's a contribution from Selle: 

Salt Trivia

I just got back from watching Salt and I have to say that I enjoyed it immensely. It's one of the best movies I've seen this year. (I have yet to see Inception).

After seeing the trailer for the first time, a few months back, I can't help but feel all excited for this film. I eagerly awaited it's opening.

I purposely refused to read anything about Salt prior to watching the film and now that I have seen it, I discovered an interesting trivia. Tom Cruise was supposed to be Salt. The main character was originally named Edwin A. Salt. Here's the excerpt from Wikipedia:

In 2007, Tom Cruise had been approached by Noyce to play Edwin A. Salt from the script written by Kurt Wimmer. Cruise was unable to commit to the script because of other commitments to projects and feared that the character was too close to his Mission Impossible character Ethan Hunt. The filmmakers tried to differentiate the character from Hunt, but eventually came to accept they were too similar and decided not to change the characteristics of Salt. Noyce said "But, you know, he had a valid point. It was kind of returning to an offshoot of a character that he’d already played. It’s like playing the brother, or the cousin, of somebody that you played in another movie"


I have to agree that the character was a lot like Ethan Hunt and was I glad that they turned it around by offering the role to Angelina Jolie.

Covert Affairs

I'm liking the series now. I was surprised when I saw Gregory Itzin in the latest episode playing a former CIA Director involved in, what else, Black Ops.

Glee Season 2 Teaser

Boeing Boeing

Wild Rice's 2nd play for the 2010-2011 season is a French farce originally staged back in the 1960s. It was then adapted to the big screen and have since enjoyed several restagings. Based on the program, I found out that this is actually the third restaging by Wild Rice. It has enjoyed sold out performances back in 2002 and 2005. 

Boeing Boeing tells the story of a bachelor juggling three girlfriends, all flight attendants from different airlines with different routes. His handy timetable allows him to manage all three and ensures that there's only one girlfriend in Singapore at a given day. Things start to go wrong when the girlfriends are assigned to new and faster aircrafts that shorten their flight schedules. 

This production has been adapted to include local flavors which relate well with the audience. Adrian Pang is the playboy bachelor, Bernard. He is perfect for the role and his facial expressions alone help keep the laughs coming. I did feel that he should have had more stage time than Daniel York who plays his buddy Robert. Not that York is bad, on the contrary, he gave his all and his presence was seemingly everywhere. As Today puts it, he works himself up into a fevered frenzy and this physicality kept the energy level of the cast high.

The three ladies were oh so lovable. Chermaine Ang as Janette from SIA is a tigress, tai-tai wannabe. She has the strongest personality and makes it known that she is on the hunt for a billion-aire. Wendy Kweh as Jelly from Cathay appears to be the most serious of the bunch. Emma Yong as Junko of JAL is wide-eyed, innocent and downright cute.  Then there is Siti Khalijah Zainal as Roza, Bernard's ever-reliable but oh-so talkative housekeeper. She is the crowd favorite since she is in on the joke. Simply put, she says what can't be said. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the show. It was a fun but quite a short journey with a duration of barely two hours.

Thank God It's Friday

Whew! What a busy week that was. I'm glad it's already Friday!

I haven't been able to go online as much the past week mainly because I'm swamped with work and my free time has been devoted to hungrily reading the Millennium trilogy. I'm down to the last few chapters of the final book and I have to say that the novels were very enjoyable. I have sometimes stayed past my normal bedtime just because I couldn't put it down. I actually missed reading cause it's been so long since I've last opened a book. Larsson's novels are one heck of a reintroduction to the joys of it.