My Vote, My Decision

I haven't really decided on whom I should vote for, but here are the I will NOT vote for and why:

• Grace Poe - what legacy? how about residency? and the family who can't even vote for her?
• Bongbong Marcos - he may be brilliant but I fear his foundation was a little bit skewed by virtue of parentage
• Jojo Binay - he didn't build Makati. He hits Grace Poe about inexperience but he put his kids in office without experience. He plays the underdog card but he expects royal treatment, and so do his kids.
• Digong Duterte - just read his pronouncements
• Manny Pacquiao - absentee congressman, no bills passed.  He didn't do his job in Congress, what more in the Senate?
• Those in Binay's Senatorial ticket - they support him

Have you given thought to your vote in 4 months?

Brand New Shows for Fall 2015 part 1

While all-time favorites are keeping their ratings up-- some already starting to say goodbye as their final season kicks off-- there is a new slew of shows that have already premiered.

1. Heroes Reborn

This much-anticipated reboot of the old Heroes franchise did not disappoint. Over the summer, a series of short episodes came out online, entitled Dark Matters. The first episode takes off from that but presents things mostly from the point-of-view of Noah Bennet, a.k.a. The Man with the Horn-rimmed Glasses. He's the only major character from the old series that has appeared so far. They are keeping things mysterious with Noah, so that kept my interest piqued.

Also appearing in the first episode is Zachary Levi. Chuck fans will get a tad disoriented with his character here. We all loved him as Chuck, right? He was adorkable. Here, he is the total opposite, and I am not quite sure how to take it. I think he needs to convince me more that his Heroes Reborn character is bitter enough to turn evil. I need to see more anger, Zach!

The new Evos (evolved humans, humans with powers) were interesting too. I especially liked Katana Girl. She is so kick-ass. The Vortex Boy (?) played an evil Peter Pan in Once Upon a Time, so I was a bit unnerved to see him vulnerable and bullied. You see, as The Pan, he had this smirk and a sneer that you could almost see in this new character; the these two characters are (again) exact opposites of each other.

In any case, I will be watching more Heroes Reborn.


2. Limitless

Taking off from the 2011 Bradley Cooper starrer of the same title, Limitless proved interesting -- at least the first episode was. I liked the pace and the character development. I just hope it does not just follow the normal-cop-paired-with-special-person formula I have been seeing a lot of lately-- hello, Almost Human, and Intelligence -- get my drift? Yeah, these shows got axed already after one season. There is another new one, Minority Report (more on this later). But then there is Cracked which is on its second season already, but then Perception got cancelled after three. So I guess there is hope yet. Going back to Limitless, I hope the show-runners will take care of this one. I was sore after they cancelled Almost Human.


3. Blindspot

Yep that's Lady Sif all inked up. Jamie Alexander's character here is another kick-ass woman. I've never been really crazy about her, actually, ever since I saw her in Kyle XY. Her upper lip is much too stiff-- and I mean that in the literal way. Her eyes are very expressive though. The premise of Blindspot got me interested to see more.


4. Minority Report

To be honest, though this first episode is well-made and the pacing is exciting, I found the premise too forced. I saw the film it was based on and I actually liked it. But the film version of Minority Report ended the story of the three special kids. I hope the series can put more substance into the premise. I'm willing to give this series a try but it won't be at the top of my must-watch list.

Let me end this here, for now. Part 2 will feature Scream Queens, Rosewood, and The Muppets.

Heneral Luna

Before anything, let me just say that I'm not a huge fan of Tagalog films -- lalo na yung over-commercialized overly dramatic sigawan-sampalan-fests with copied or predictable plots.

That said, I highly recommend this movie. This one, I actually liked.  Here is my review and I will do my best not to spoil it.

I loved the symbolisms. You have to see it to get what I mean. Otherwise, I will be spoiling it.

I loved the touch of Filipino humor in it. I'd heard other people not liking that, but I found it made the movie reachable and better understood. My favorite scene was when he tried to talk to the American.

I think teachers should tell their students to watch it. I think every Filipino should watch it. Take note: students get a 50% discount, even Masteral students. Just bring your ID.

It asks you pointed questions and makes you feel insecure about your own nationalism. All of a sudden, you're thinking if you love your country enough.

It makes you appreciate how people in your life can be level-headed and reasonable, especially when others are being petty and selfish.

Watching the movie, my only complaint would be on the obvious budgetary restrictions. They tried to make it all seem realistic, but you could see where they had to cut corners.

But even with those, I still give this movie ***** -- yes, 5 stars. So watch it already.

ADDENDUM:
Here are some tidbits about Antonio Luna that shows how kick-ass he was. Some of it were in the movie: http://www.filipiknow.net/facts-about-antonio-luna/

A drastic hair change

Along 9th Street in Cubao is a place called The Beauty Cafe.

When you walk in, it looks like a cozy little nook with tables and chairs, a sofa with throw pillows and a wall with waterfalls. The food is great and the grilled ensaymada is pure delight (especially when paired with hot cocoa, I'm told). The people are friendly too.

For many people it's just another food place, a good alternative to the coffee shops that tend to be crowded and noisy.

But that's not all.

To me, it now holds the distinction of being the place where I had my most drastic transformation just yet. That's where the "beauty" part of the place's name comes in.

The place is owned and operated by Tony Galvez.

Yes, this Tony Galvez,  

(Picture from https://pbs.twimg.com/)

You see, I'm not the best judge of hair styles for myself. Case in point:

This was me in May 2015 -- with my long hair which I usually tied in a ponytail. Boring, right?

Every few years, after letting my hair grow, I get it cut really short, and donate the hair to charity -- to be made into wigs for people whose sickness tend to leave them bald. I've done it three times already, and it feels good to know that my hair is giving confidence to a little girl with cancer.  This year, I found an ad on FB announcing that donations for alopecia (bald spots) victims need hair that's at least 8 inches long (While the ones for cancer victims is a minimum of 10 inches). I need to look for that ad again though... (If you know about a local group that accepts 8-inch hair donations, please let me know).

Anyway, my bestfriend, Penny Tan, recently had her hair done by no other than Tony Galvez at-- you guessed it-- The Beauty Cafe. She has naturally wavy hair and she has them treated every now and then. She raved about this place so I thought it was time to make a person with alopecia happy.

When I got to the cafe, Tony himself approached us and asked me what I wanted to do with my hair. I told him I'd like to donate it so I'd like my hair cut very short. He approved of it and added that I needed hair color as well.

COLOR?!? -- my mind screamed. My hair is what stylists would call "virgin" -- untouched by coloring and perming chemicals.

Tony ushered me to the back room - a fully-furnished salon. In the middle was this salon chair facing three fully-lit fullbody mirrors. He put me on one of the chairs on the side first while he gave his assistants instructions. I distinctly remember him saying "sculpting" and "colorize" several times.  I asked him what color he had in mind for me but all he said was that they will match it with my skin tone.

Hokayyy...

Tony tied my hair with a rubber band and made the first cut, and suddenly my head felt much lighter.

  

 

He explained that it's easier to wash shorter hair and then ushered me off to have my hair washed. Then he made me sit in that throne-like chair I described earlier (the one with three huge mirrors). His assistant rolled a 3-layered tool stand close to us and proceeded to wrap me up for the rest of the cutting.

While Tony was in the zone snipping away on my tresses, I couldn't help but smile. He was very particular about which tools to use. That, to me, is a true sign of an artist. If you want the best work to be done, you better use the right tools. If you are to make a living out of it, you better invest on the good ones. I got that from my dad, and I am passing it on to my daughter.

At one point, his assistant asked him if she could plug "it". I thought it was the blower. Boy, was I wrong! It was the shaver! The last time my scalp felt a shaver was when I was shaved bald as a toddler -- based on the belief that if you shave a baby's head, the hair will grow thicker. While the thing was whirring behind me, I could swear I had this fearful look on my face, and my mind was repeating the words, "Please do not shave higher. Please do not shave higher. Oh please do not shave higher!"  Suffice it to say, I now have shorter hair than many guys I know.

His assistant then asked him if she could prepare the color. To this Tony replied firmly, "No, I will mix it myself."  Then he disappeared to the back. While he was there, his assistant brushed off the cut hair while explaining that Tony likes to mix his own colors. I was impressed -- that would assure return clients, as long as they're happy, and they usually are with him.

Tony came out with a bowl of white glop. With my limited experience in hair color, I knew that this would mean that my hair would be colored lighter than my natural one. In fact, the glop looked like the bleaching solution used recently on my daughter's hair. It made me nervous.

Am I ready for this drastic a change?  What if I were being prepped to be blonde? OH Lord in heaven, please let it not be blonde!

When I was searching for hair color for my daughter, the packages all said the solution must be left on the hair for 20-30 minutes. While waiting for the color to set in, I would sometimes try to see through the glop. At 10 minutes in, I could see my hair was turning brown.  I didn't know how long they were going to leave the solution on my hair so I tried my best to relax. I mean, what can I do by then, right?  I might as well accept that I was going to have light hair.

Thankfully, after 15 minutes, Tony came in and said, "That's ok now," and I was ushered back to the shampoo station.  Let me rave here about that shampoo station -- the chair has controls to lift the seat and pull back the back rest! It was so cool!

Anyway, the chemicals were making my scalp itch already so the shampoo treatment was welcomed. It took a lot of self-control on my part not to take a peek at the color of my hair while it was being shampooed. Then my hair was brusquely towel-dried. I say brusquely because there wasn't anything anymore that made the towel drag that it was literally flying all over my head.

When the assistant took the towel off ,my head, my hair was almost dry and it was light brown -- like the hair you find on corn.

Now, I can't help but touch my hair, just to make sure I still have some on my head -- it's that light. I touch the back more often though. I guess I am not used to having a shaven nape, and not being able to pull the hair at the back of my head is unnerving. But then again, that's all I need to do with my hair now -- touch it, muss it up and my hair is set for the day.

And all I can say is: THANK YOU TONY GALVEZ!!!

ADDENDUM:

I found the contact info of the Foundation for the hair donation!  I saw a Facebook ad for their event for August 29 (Saturday) -- a Mass hair cutting and concert:

Our partner JCI MANILEÑA will celebrate with U! their Short Hair We Care campaign with Cut to Care, Hair to Share: Mass Hair Cutting and Musicare: A Sunset Acoustic Session. The event will feature artists who support Alopecia Philippines. See you at Splice Resto Bar at The Portal Greenfield District in Mandaluyong on August 29, 3PM. Tickets only Php 500 with 2 drinks. Message us at 0917 8874278. Please support and SHARE. 

Look, a number! I sent them a text message and they responded right away. So I am hand delivering my hair to their office at:  2610 Raffles Center, F Ortigas Road, Ortigas Center in Pasig -- so close to the office!