Best Venue for a Miss Universe Pageant

Posted on January 30, 2017 by heavenliner

Like the rest of the Filipinos, I’m excited and anxious towards the result of the annual Miss Universe pageant. There must really be something in the waters of the Philippines that makes almost all of the Filipinos become so eccentric and loony about this pageant.

And what is so weird is that we only get so thrilled and so tempestuous only for the Miss Universe title. We are not as crazy and as zany towards the results of other international beauty pageants like Miss World, Miss International, Miss Supranational and other out-of-this-world beauty titles. For us Filipinos, Miss Universe is the ultimate beauty contest. Miss Universe for the Philippines is like the SuperBowl of USA, the FIFA World Cup of Latin Americas or the Eurovision Song Contest of Europe.

But unlike the previous years, my being anxious, excited and prayerful that Miss Philippines makes it to the top 3 spots this year is a little bland, vapid and nondescript. It is because this year’s pageant was held here in the Philippines.

miss universe (from france)

I agree with the opinion of the very opinionated Gloria Diaz, the 1969 Miss Universe. She believes that except for USA (who owns the Miss Universe franchise and where the pageant is usually held), no host country should win the title. I am actually a little glad this year that Miss Philippines just landed in the top 6. At least no nation who joined this year’s contest would accuse the Philippines for holding a rigged pageant.

Filipinos I believe has the same sentiment as that of Ms. Diaz but with the exemption of course for the Philippines as the venue. Since Miss Universe is the most prestigious title that any Filipina would want to have, we Filipinos would want our girl to win the title may it be held in the Philippines or not. But if the candidate of a different host country where the pageant is held wins, then we Filipinos would construe that the pageant was doctored.

Can you just imagine a Miss Universe pageant held in Beijing and the crowned winner is Miss China or Miss Colombia winning the title when the pageant is held in Bogota? Except for the Philippines as the venue, we Filipinos would most probably dub that year’s pageant as the best “cooking” show in the universe “with 3 Michelin stars”!

And because I agree with the opinion of Ms. Diaz. I just hope that this is the last time Philippines hosts the pageant. I am saying this because I want our candidate to win fair and square. We know that it is more pleasing, magnificent and majestic if Filipino brings home an accolade that was gained and bestowed from different country.

miss philippines maxine medina

And because we are known to be the craziest fanatics of this pageant and we can seriously mock a country for being fraud, cheats and deceitful, no country then would dare host it and have their candidate win. And since all participating countries wants to win, no country then would want to host it. This results to a predicament of the Miss Universe Organization on where to hold the next pageant.

My suggestion? Try holding the contest in a neutral country. A nation that does not participate in the pageant for reasons their country would only know. Countries like Syria, Yemen or Iran could have been great neutral places but due to some folks with their radical Muslim beliefs, holding the pageant in these countries may be life threatening for the ladies and the organizers.

I guess the best venue for Miss Universe then would be the Vatican City. A city state that has diplomatic relations with almost every country in the world, a country that does not have a prison system, and a tiny government run and enriched by some of the most religious people in the universe, Vatican City would be the most neutral, most friendly and most appropriate venue for the next Miss Universe pageant. I would like to believe that a lot of people including Gloria Diaz would agree with me on this.

Kongrats sa nanalo…

A Retro Party Video That Deserves 680 Views

Posted on January 28, 2017 by heavenliner

Does a person who signed-in or owns a YouTube account can already be considered a YouTuber or does it take a certain degree before someone be considered as one? I for one owns a YouTube account and I have signed-in my account for more than 5 years already, but still, I don’t consider myself as a legit YouTuber. For me, a rightful YouTuber is someone who has at least a couple of hundreds of subscribers, posts videos on a regular basis and the number of views of their videos are in thousands (if not in millions).

I have high regard and admiration to these group of internet geniuses. I am continuously boggled by the fact that these YouTubers were able to tap and has been consistent in tickling the interests of the video viewing public. I have yet to grasp and discover their seemingly elusive formula. And I’m clueless on how the hell they do it! Like a pathetic old fool, I have been doing YouTube but one video has yet to reach a thousand views!

Anyway, let me post the latest YouTube video that I did with the help of my officemate (Rey Ferrer) who introduced me to a new world of video editing. This video is about the recent company party that I organized. With the hardships and challenges of organizing a company party attended by 680 people, this video I suppose deserves to reach at least 680 views. Enjoy…

peace!

Kapag ang bidyong ito naging bayral, maanlilibre ako ng miryenda!

Channeling a Retro Fashion Passion

Posted on January 27, 2017 by heavenliner

As soon as it was agreed that the theme of the company that I worked with was Retro 60s & 70s, I channeled on the personas of Billy Preston, the Jackson 5, Angela Davis, Jimmy Hendrix and the Supremes. I plumped into the idea of donning into the so called afro fashion which became a fad during the 70s.

Fortified with a deep thought as funneled by these iconic 70s Afro-American icons that “with right fashion passion everything would be aflame” this is how my retro-party-look ended up:

with malou domingo…

your clothes should be as important as your skin…

i#bighair

It was super fun dressing up for a retro party!

Ang sarap pumorpa mga repapips! Bukas susuotin ko ulit yan pag-pasok ko sa opis!

Palawan: The Park Constructed by Nature

Posted on January 11, 2017 by heavenliner

It is shocking to learn from the news that a group of businessmen as well as the government of Palawan has plans of putting-up a Nickelodeon-designed underwater theme park. This indeed is very disturbing.

These builders of artificial theme parks must be made to realize that Palawan itself is one big and breathing park. A park built by no one but nature itself. A natural park where people can thrillingly commune with nature.

Palawan in so many times has been voted as the best island in the world. All human beings who has been to this heavenly place dubbed as “the last frontier” can attest that this island is one of a kind. The environment is serene, the air is fresh, the waters are crystal clear and the wildlife is healthy.

An underwater theme park is the last thing that Palawan needs. Owners of Nickelodeon obviously has not gone diving or snorkeling the beautiful waters of Palawan. They have yet to know the richness of the marine wildlife found in that beautiful island. Thus, there is no underwater feature of Palawan that is needed to be enhanced. The clearness of the water and the vastness of marine wildlife in itself is one blissful natural theme park already.

booo!

I obviously disagree and would not want the construction of an underwater theme park in Palawan. This opted me to sign-up to the “No Nickelodeon’s Underwater Theme Park in Palawan” petition/campaign. And let me ask all those who stumbled upon this post to join me by signing up at:

https://www.bataris.org.ph/petitions/no-to-nickelodeon-s-underwater-theme-park-in-palawan

photo from my most recent trip in el nido, palawan

palawan: heaven on earth

One more thing… SpongeBob SquarePants may be adorable but I don’t need to see or be with him for me to enjoy the most beautiful island in the world.

Nakakaloka!

Retro 60s and 70s Party Teaser

Posted on January 8, 2017 by heavenliner

In the company that I am working for, Employees’ Night Party is held yearly. Instead of the annual Christmas Party as observed by other companies, we prefer to hold the party after the season has simmered down. It is because during the Santa Holiday Season out group of restaurants are the busiest entities in the metro. We are actually the servers in others’ Christmas Parties!

And after the busy service during Christmas season, we seem to be ready for a Halloween Party because everybody looks like a zombie by the end of the season. Nevertheless, during the kris kringle season, I would publish posters counting down the number of days prior to the day of the Employees’ Night so as to build up some excitement.

a collage of “countdown” posters i published in the office

Employees’ Night is held usually on the second or third week of January. And every year, a theme is appointed. This year’s theme is Retro 60s and 70s. The styles, fashion and music of the 60s and 70s era.

Every year my co-employees looks forward to our Employees’ Night. Almost all of employees would participate in donning in an outfit based on the party theme. I am just as excited as the rest of them. And to add more excitement, I created a cute video which features some of my co-employees who has lived during the cool 60s and awesome 70s…

Thank you peeps for submitting your cute cool retro photos! I love them all. Let show everyone how an awesome party should be done. See you at the party!

Eksayted na ko…

Christmas 2016 at Nengkoy’s

Posted on December 26, 2016 by heavenliner

Pure fun and hilarious riot. That is how I would describe my annual Christmas Eve moment year after year. Every time my family gathers during this beautiful time and especially when all my nieces and nephews would show up at Nengkoy’s house on Christmas Eve, sheer joy and laughter would ensue.

team langit #livelovesparkle

2016 Christmas at Nengkoy’s was metric tons of happiness. Everyone lived, loved and sparkled that night!

Sakit sa panga! Grabe!

The Imaginary Flaming Torch of Miss Philippines World 2016

Posted on December 22, 2016 by heavenliner

The recently concluded Miss World 2016 beauty pageant shall be remembered as one of the pageants in history in which the best deserving candidate who gave the best answer was not bestowed the crown.

All top five candidates during the final Q&A portion of the contest – considered to be the ultimate component that will determine who shall be crowned as Miss World – gave pretty good responses to the question thrown at them by previous Miss World winners. These past winners including the lady host (Miss World 2013 from the Philippines) who carried the imaginary burning torch of the pageant were still impressively beautiful.

During the final Q&A, one lady stood out to be the best among all these pretty candidates. The whole world in fact loved the answer articulated by Ms. Philippines.

catriona gray: a big loss for the miss world organization

It was sincere, gentle and well composed. It was so damn good, genius and impressive. I could not see myself being able to organize such a metaphoric, to the point of poetic, type of thinking. Too bad judges settled for a shallower and simpler type of response. Thus, the crown goes to Ms. Puerto Rico.

I heard and read in social media, that Filipino netizens were truly upset about the outcome of this year’s Miss World pageant. A lot of Filipinos tagged the pageant as this year’s the best cooking show in the world.

I guess, we Filipinos have the right to feel such. I know we Filipinos will not berate or react this way if we know that the winner truly deserves to win. Cases in point were the close wins of Shamcey Supsup the Miss Philippines during the 2011 Miss Universe pageant as won by Ms. Angola and that of Ariela Arida’s time during 2013 Miss Universe when the crown was given to Ms. Venezuela. We Filipinos simply accepted the fact that these ladies were indeed deserving of their title and can indeed continue carrying the pageant’s flaming torch.

But we were similarly upset, annoyed and agitated when Miss Philippines Janine Tugonon who gave an impressive answer than Ms. USA but the latter was adjudged as 2012 Miss Universe.

And for this year’s version of Miss World, it was truly disappointing. And being so upset and putting a pinch of metaphor on my disappointment, I would love to grab the imaginary flaming torch that Miss Philippines was talking about and throw it so freaking hard at the judges so as to burn them to smithereens!

Booo! Nasaan ang hustisya?!

Unbelievable Pauline Agupitan Slays “I Believe”

Posted on November 15, 2016 by heavenliner

I happen to stumble upon this young talent on YouTube. And when I started listening to her, I realized that her singing voice is actually the quality of my voice every time I wake up suffering from a severe sore throat!

But seriously, I was stunned by this young Filipina’s amazing voice. And what adds up to such a surprising rendition is that her singing seem effortless. I am not a music expert but I know what a remarkable voice is when I hear one. Her version of Fantasia Barrino’s I Believe is just perfect (or even better than the original, I suppose)!

Goosebumps were actually falling off my skin at the start of the song. And these goosebumps started growing their own hands so as to give a humongous round of applause to such an amazing talent at the end of the song!

powerful voice at such a tiny frame

Halimaw ang talento ng babaing yan!

A Quiet Gem Known As Luljetta’s Hanging Gardens

Posted on September 18, 2016 by heavenliner

I have one complaint about the recent adventure I had with some friends. It’s about the place where we had a short weekend holiday. It’s about Luljetta’s Hanging Garden! My complaint is about my camera’s inability to capture the beauty and serenity of the place.

fun time with mj, jb and willie

swimming by the mountain cliff

Knowing that it’s near Manila I set my standards low for Luljetta’s Hanging Garden. But as soon as we arrived, this darling of a place simply became a big surprise. The peaceful mountain environment and the invigorating fresh air were some of the things visitors can savor about.

I never knew that such a quiet gem exists just one and a half hour away from crazy Metro Manila. Here’s one fun video which I guess failed to capture the unhurried, gracious and breathtaking beauty of Luljeta’s Hanging Garden.

Luljetta’s Hanging Gardens is a mountain resort located at Loreland Farm Resort in Barangay San Roque, Antipolo City.

Akalain mo? May ganun pala sa Antipolo?

Eggs For Breakfast in Antipolo

Posted on September 11, 2016 by heavenliner

Breakfast is the most important meal in my universe. I basically would not function well if I happen to skip breakfast. That is why every time I got to encounter a great breakfast experience I will definitely have to write about it.

If Marikina City got Rustic Mornings and Alaminos City boasts about Celia’s Café, Antipolo can definitely rave about their Eggs For Breakfast. This tiny all-day breakfast joint at the tail-end of the Sierra Madre mountain range is definitely huge in terms of serving pleasant breakfast dishes! Though it’s quite difficult to locate if you wish to snub the benefits of using Waze or Google Maps, this hidden gem in Antipolo is indeed worth a visit.

groupie of the breakfast gang!

it was worth the visit…

My friends settled for the classic Filipino breakfast items, that is, Beef Tapa and Longganisa dishes served with rice and eggs while I opted for the American classic Buttermilk Pancakes with Eggs and Bacon. And judging from my order, I knew that this café is a good café. It is because I exactly got what I ordered. I just wanted fluffy pancakes with bacon and eggs and I got fluffy pancakes with bacon and eggs.

buttermilk pancakes with bacon and eggs

has fun with one pan breakfast

As if like testing and challenging if this café is indeed a good café, I decided to order another set of breakfast dish. For my second round of breakfast, I ordered for the fancier, heavier and seem to be a popular dish of the joint which everyone seem to be ordering. Eggs for Breakfast’s version of the classic full English breakfast which they call One Pan Breakfast!

One Pan Breakfast further verified our delight and enjoyment of the place. Though everyone are already full after finishing their respective orders, we were still able to finish the One Pan Breakfast in a breeze as soon as it was served on our table! Yum yum!

nice one…

Eggs For Breakfast isn’t the most spacious and comfortable café to laze but the quirky interiors, the delightful ambiance, the pretty alright service and of course the tasty breakfast dishes were indeed worthy of a visit. I am just glad to know that a cozy and delightful breakfast joint does exist in that part of beautiful Philippines. I will definitely visit again!

Itlog para almusal…

Nengkoy

ruminations & travesties of the favorite yet naughty son of Nengkoy

Tag Archives: philippines