What the concrete jungle is made of...

There had been too many people who said that New York is a concrete jungle and I will not disagree on that.
Having been in Chicago for three months now, I'm used to seeing moderate crowd on the streets and a subway line that is pretty easy to understand.
So, I went to the City with all these reminders that it will be "different" out there.
And true enough, New York is far too different than the windy city, for one, the crowd on broadway street did not falter even at midnight. People kept walking on that street and they're literally from all walks of life. Heck, I have seen more than 5 limos around and a pink one at that. McDonald's had no vacant seats even at 9pm, and the Empire State Building burns so brightly even at 11pm.
Then, there is the awesome Central Park which covers more than 4 subway stations and perhaps one of the best parks designed across the world. I can still see in my mind the magnificent skyscrapers peeking on the trees of the park...one of the wonders of the park.
Oh, and there's the Battery Park where you would be able to gaze at Liberty and at the same time haggle for LVs that must have come from the Little Italian Village nearby. Not to mention that Battery Park is filled with different kinds of performers who struggle with one another to get your attention even at 10am of sunday morning.
And then, the many visitors of St. Paul's chapel beside Ground Zero that reminds you so much of what was taken out of that vicinity by a freakin terrorist act.
And finally there's the fabulous clubs in Manhattan area...to die for.
So, what's the concrete jungle made of...pretty much fab things and landmarks...and oh a subway system where you could probably get lost not just once but twice.

I love you and happy anniversary

It was one year ago when we both agreed to be start a journey together.
I remember two of my friends thought it was a bad idea because I hardly know you.
Yeah. I actually thought that to myself as well.
Thinking that we would only last for a few months...I disregarded it as mere new experience.
In between that unsure self of mine and that krooklyness of yours, something good happened...we managed to get along.

Of course...no relationship is ever smooth. We've had fights and trials but we have handled them privately and managed to stay together and perhaps understand each other better.

I wouldn't have the past 12 months any other way.

I believe that you are indeed a blessing to me more than being a soul to guide for me.

It would have been totally awesome if we were given a chance to meet here in US or in Canada even for a week...but because we have too much blessing already...guess fate will have it another way.

Still, it makes me happy to know that we have come this far and have proven that this relationship can still move forward despite the distance...that's a feat already in itself.

More than that....its your love for me that makes the past 12 months really filled with blessing. I love you and happy anniversary.

The Miserable Ones

After spending 2 hours watching Burlesque, I felt I was already miserable. The lack of interesting plotline and remarkable music has turned me wanting for a real musical treat for the night.

It was a good thing that I saw portions or Les Miserables 25th anniversary concert last sunday afternoon in one of the local channels, and it did grab my attention so I rented out the dvd.

Initially, I thought that I would be seeing the actual play captured in dvd, but the title mentioned that it was a concert and so, I knew that it wouldn't be the actual play itself but perhaps the music in it.

Alfie Boe (Jean Valjean) and Norm Lewis (Javert) battling it out on the opening act when Jean Valjean is about to be released in prison. Look down is hauntingly beautiful and as a song it captures perfectly an ex-convict's wanting of true freedom but is always tied up to their dark past. Alfie Boe is phenomenal in all his songs throughout the concert, but he remains unforgettable in his rendition of Bring Him Home. Indeed perfect to be the main the character that binds the whole story.
Jean Valjean was given by the bishop a chance to redeem his life before he broke his parole by stealing again.

Act II can be summarized in two words, Lea Salonga. She plays Fantine. On the past stage plays, she was Eponine singing On my own. This time she belts out I Dreamed a Dream and probably her best performance to date. Some even commented that it was better than the original by LuPone. Lea remains in perpect pitch throughout the belting of that song, not screechy for even a bit and face with changing emotions. Our miss saigon made Filipinos proud on that second act, captivating the whole 02 arena in London of people all over the world, something to be truly proud of.

Act III was about the war in France and the love story of Cosette and Marius with Marius' friend Eponine. I'm not totally sure of Nick Jonas and the one who played Cosette because she sounded pitchy in her solo, but Samantha Barks' (Eponine) rendition of On My Own reminds me of Lea's rendition in the past in a different tone and with better emotions.

Nick Jonas' best performance in that evening would have been his Epmty Chairs and Empty Tables. At this point, you would appreciate the quality of his voice and the emotion of losing all friends in the battle.

Then Alfie sings again Bring Him Home. This rendition is the heart of the entire concert. You will hear some of the other cast of the past productions sing this song in the encore part of the concert as a group. But for a solo, Alfie gives his best performance belting out this song.

Finally, he sings a trio with Fantine and Eponine in his death bed. At this point, it is impossible not to be touched by the music and the emotional renditions of the singers and by the message of redemption and freedom.

And for someone like me who had no idea of even a single page of the book of Hugo, and the immortal characters on it, I must say it indeed touched my soul. I'm actually trying to find an ebook of the literary piece to store in my kindle and get the taste of the real thing of this masterpiece.

Show me how you Burlesque?

I had a musical night last night.

I ran across the dvd rental and saw that Burlesque and Les Miserables were both available for rentals.

Considering it would be impossible for me to watch both of them in cinemas here, I took out my amex and rented them.

My first on the list was Burlesque. I remember hearing Cher on tv saying she can live without an Oscar because this musical film did not get any nomination even after it got a Globe.

I've never seen so many musicals of late, but I liked both Moulin Rouge and Chicago, and perhaps the local film Emir, and maybe some parts of that Indian movie that got best picture from the Oscars last year.

Burlesque turned out to be a story of a burlesque club in LA and the story of a girl who dreamt of performing onstage. Hohum, not the most original storyline is it, and the opening number for Aguillera had to be a pseudo dream sequence in a diner she was about to leave.

Then she finally makes it to LA and saw this Burlesque club downtown while looking for a job, gets inside the club and tries everything to get a job there even as a waitress waiting for her time to be a star. Clearly at the first 20 minutes of the film I figured out why Oscar snubbed it - there was nothing original or remarkable about the film. Even the music wasn't good enough. Remember Queen Latifah's act on Chicago? I swear, Cher's act in this film sounded like it!

Halfway of the film, Aguillera gets into the stage, after Cher gave her a chance to be part of the performers, tries to strut her butt onstage. Amidst this riveting (not!) development on stage, the bar is threatened to be closed for being bankrupt. Darn...the bar is to be closed out and Cher doesn't do anything at all except to avoid the people she is supposed to be talking to, to prevent it from being closed. Hahaha.

Then love stories here and there and its climax already with Aguillera trying to pull of a stunt of live singing when some b1tch cut off her music while onstage. Finally, everything is sorted out in the end with Aguillera getting her guy and Cher preventing the bar from closing because of Air rights? Huh?

That's it folks. Oh dear. No wonder it gets snubbed. Unoriginal. Nothing remarkable. No production number turned out to be special or well-thought of. And the music is so-so.

Cast performances - blah. Cher's acting wasn't really much of an acting. She did better in Mermaids. Aguillera...hmm..her voice..yeah...the part..maybe..but nothing really special, it was as if everything is really staged. Jennifer Hudson would have been more interesting on that role. The rest of the cast - forgettable.

Oh yeah, and the struggling songwriter guy finally finished his song and Aguillera gets to sing it...what do you know...the title "Show Me how you Burlesque"...and nothing really new to offer in the music industry nor to the entirety of the film.

It was a good thing I had Les Miserables dvd at hand.

Up in the Air

I'm glad I stayed home tonight to watch HBO.
For couple of weeks, HBO in Chicago has been replaying Dark Knight and Valentine's Day.
I swear I have memorized both films eversince their first airing.


Tonight, after a Kate Winslet film that I did not catch the title, HBO's programming was to play Up in the Air.
I only remember its title as one of the Best Picture nominees of Oscars some years ago, and I knew George Clooney was the star.
Other than that, I don't know anything about the movie, or why the heck it was even nominated by the Academy.

The movie follows George Clooney's character as the guy who was hired by companies to fire people.
Not light them up, but to let go of their employment from the binding ties of the company.
He flies 340 days a year, and he flies around the US to do his job.
His job allows him to travel business class, or even first class. To live in a luxurious hotels.
His job allows him also to see each human get devastated for delivering the bad news to these people.

After several years of flying to different states to fire people, the company he has worked for wanted to cut cost of staff flying all over the US.
It's understandable for the company to cut down their operating costs, so they tried to pilot a new process of firing people - that is to do the firing in front of a computer screen from
the comfort of their own office in Omaha.
But the business of firing people is never easy to do in person, much more to try to do in a rather impersonal manner through a computer screen.

Having been in a situation wherein your boss asks you to leave the company because they no longer need you is probably one of the hardest situation.
For one, it is really devastating simply because when the company hired you, in your heart of hearts, you build up this dream of growing old in that company.
Not only because it pays your bill, but also because you believed that the company will take your life to greater heights while you give them your invaluable day-to-day contributions at work.
But business is business. Sometimes (or alot other times) the company needs to cut their operational costs and would sometimes rely to machines to cut their costs rather than keeping a staff who would incur more costs each year to their ever-growing list of cost.

The film does not end on a happy note, but George Clooney's character realizes some few things about life.
One, that he shouldn't be running away from his family just because he thinks that they are the responsibilities trying to strain his comfortable life.
Another thing he realized is that the new girl trying to pilot the new process of firing people isn't her enemy - and that he can learn a thing or two about human relationships with her.
And three, at the time he wants to settle with someone, the woman he wants to settle with is just seeing him as a paranthesis in her life. An escape from her married life.
Something that he was actually okay to be doing with her initially - but he had a change of heart.

In reality, we can toss everything up in the air. Our lives, our dreams, our families and even our careers.
Sometimes, someone else toss it up in the air. Alot other times, it is the circumstances that tosses them all up.
But when something is tossed up in the air, we always forget that it may just be one of the few things that are up there.
Not everything will be up in the air. Otherwise, gravity won't be working and the world will probably be damned if that's the case.

A month after.

January 2011 is almost over.

We are down to the last 10 daysand then February begins in a speed.

The next week marks my first month here in Chicago and it is something to be reallt thankful for.

One, the childhood dream of travelling to the US and seeing and experiencing snow came true.

Two, the business trip will increase my technical skills and will be good preparation for my future role as a team lead.

Third, the entire experience is teaching me to widen my perspective about the client and about life.

On my first week, there was Sev 1 tickets that I mishandled, and today I had 2 sev 1 tickets again but I have handled them both graciously and finished the first set of migration steps that I'm supposed to do.

I think this is what I would call aging professionally. :)

The client is not as terrible as they'd always seem. I figured they are also servicing their clients on a daily basis and most of the time they get sacked for mishandling some things in between good service and the lack thereof.

And of course, each of the things that are to be accomplished equates to a time frame, hence there'll always be time pressure on it.

So after a month of being here...what did i miss?

Hmm..alot i guess. Manila is such a warm place. Family and friends are there. Night outs. Good food. Endless laughs.

Then again, Chicago boasts alot of good experiences and astonishing places as well...most of them you would only see on postcards...and here I am walking in downtown chicago.