Saturday, October 30, 2010

Behind the Byline of Preview's Society Editor


Friends! Don't miss the latest episode of Behind the Bylines featuring the number one fashion magazine Preview's Society Editor Raymond Gutierrez.

Yep, Raymond or "Mond" to his close friends has been the Society Editor of Preview for more than a year. A member of an elite showbiz family, Raymond is surprisingly humble, funny, down-to-earth and most of all, real.

"It makes me grounded because as I have said, it's an environment I'm not used to. I have a boss. I have an office. It's a different ball game, I have a deadline I have to rush, I have to do it now. I have no other choice. It's new and fresh and kinda makes me feel alive, cause I've been used to the whole showbiz world my whole life...."

We know Raymond as a TV host in GMA 7, formerly in Pinoy Idol and currently, in Party Pilipinas and Showbiz Central. Most of the time, he does the interviewing, but tables are turned when Behind the Bylines gets up close and personal.

See Raymond as he juggles a tight schedule shooting a society page with Maggie Wilson and hurries to go to the airport for an event coverage in Cebu. And...uh-oh, what happens when it's drizzling in an outdoor shoot? Will the picture still be fab?

Find out on November 2, Tuesday at 9 pm. Only on Star World.

***Picture courtesy of Raymond Gutierrez.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Kathrina Tiu dy appears to be offline.



Kathrina Tiu Dy appears to be offline. In yahoo messenger, that is.

It's been almost 10 months since my bestfriend Kat Tiudy passed away.

I dread the day January 10th of next year comes, cause that will be the first year anniversary of her death.

Sometimes I forget she's gone. Like one good thing happens, and I immediately think, "hey I'm going to text Tiudy" or recently, when our house was newly renovated, she was the first one I thought of, who I'd love to invite. I said, "Wait 'til Tiuds sees this" then I remember. And all the memories of her death flood back.

Her facebook page is still online, with a lot of her friends and relatives posting and saying hi, tagging photos of her. I open my facebook account and there on the right side, it says "Say hi to Kathrina". I like that her facebook page is still there, it's soothing to think she's still here with us in space, even if it means cyber space. I love to see her smile on her profile picture, because I like imagining her happy in heaven and I know she is. I haven't erased her on yahoo, and her name's still on my phone book. It's not that I'm not yet over her death. I just like holding on to her face, her laugh, her jokes, her life. I don't like my Tiuds to be forgotten...ever.

For the past months, her facebook page is where we all meet -- our batchmates and her different circles of friends and we find comfort in her and in each other.

Here are some of interesting posts on her wall:

Nina Kristine Ona Dello hi tiudy.. i dreamt of you last night... please guide and pray for us. love you!! =)

Pau Perez mama kat =) malapit na christmas namimiss na nila tinitinda mong bags =) mwah love u

Dyan Cruz katchu... guide me naman o...

Kb Contreras i miss u tiuds.... I need you ngaun... Paki sbe nmn sa bossing natn jan sa taas... Alalay sakin ng konti... Thanks tiuds...

Miguel Vargas Ate Kat alam mo naman malaki natulong mo sakin, maraming salamat.. Naka Close rin ako isa ulit wit Ate April.. I hope ur doin great dyaan sa Heaven=)

Ems Gonzales ei tiudy! nakita kita sa "keep in touch" ko. musta ka naman dyan, ganda? balitaan mo ko ha. mwah!;p

Corinne Javier tiubby....akala ko ok na ko. pero kanina, nung nadaanan namin yung harbour square, soooobrang nalungkot ako at pinigil kong maiyak, tinext ko nga agad si karl. dun tayo huling nag gimik na lahat. i soooooo miss you :(


Great posts right? Tiudy is our angel in heaven and a lot of times when I pray to God, I talk to her afterwards. I've started a Dear Tiudy diary, where I tell her everything, my deepest fears, my high moments, and just make small talk. I'd like to imagine she's just listening, laughing her heart out, probably saying "Para kang tanga Alina."

Recently, I prayed and I told her 'Tiuds, miss na kita, paramdam ka naman." And she did, that same night. Again, nagpakita siya sa dreams ko. In the dream, we were wearing our St. Paul uniforms and we were shopping in a huge grocery (we always are shopping in our dreams, the last time we were in a huge accessories department store). I was talking to her and we were catching up. I don't remember exactly what we were talking about but in the dream, she told me I was the only one who could see her. So the other shoppers and grocery staff were looking at me weirdly. We bought a lot of things, mostly junkfood -- potato chips and for some reason, cereals!? I don't know why!

Today, I opened my yahoo messenger and I saw her name on my friends' list.

I sent her a message: "Miss na kita sobra."

It said:
Kathrina Tiudy appears to be offline.
He or she will receive your messages after signing in.

But of course yahoo's wrong. She doesn't have to sign in to know.

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Sisters


My sister and I are as different as chalk and cheese.

She's boyish and sporty, I'm kind of allergic to sports and girly.

She's a Food Technology degree holder and a resident doctor, while I'm a Film graduate taking up my masteral in communication.

One of her hobbies is teasing me about my clothes and bags and I often pester her to start wearing a dress or at least to put her legs to good use since she's long-legged.

I'm bookish, while she's not the academic type.

She's tall and morena, I'm short and fair-skinned.

I realize now we have absolutely nothing in common. But despite all these, it amazes that we are still very close.

I remember I cried when she was about to move to an apartment in QC for her studies. I missed her so much that time. I got used to talking to her every night, just pouring my heart out and updating her on tsismis and the latest about my friends.

Some people don't know that my sister has a high IQ, higher than most people. She rarely studies because she kind of absorbs everything during lectures. She graduated at the top of her class in FEU Medicine. That she's a loving daughter and sister. That when we were kids, she had always protected me. Always the big sister who looks out for her li'l sis.

I'm very proud of my Ate Mayette.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

My Ultimate Crush: Paolo Soler


Pre-Ondoy, I used to have this small magazine picture of Paolo Soler pasted on my cabinet. He is my ultimate Filipino celebrity crush.

I think I started fantasizing about him since his Coca-cola commercial way back in....shit, I don't remember when. I must have been in grade school. Hehe! (I wish there's a Youtube copy of this commercial, wala eh.)

He had shorter hair then. But now it's long and curly...I like! He's such a hunk, this Paolo guy. I heard he's the president of a surfing academy now, which means he has a great tan and a hot body (a long sigh...)

I've been around in showbiz circles for the past years because of my job, but sadly, I haven't met him personally yet. Kelan kaya? Friends, if you know him, introduce me please!

I'm not really into sports but for this guy, really, I'd risk drowning in the deep blue sea...:-)


Monday, October 11, 2010

Have That Sassy Solitary Style



(published in wmn.ph, QTV Channel 11's online community; click on this link to read article in the site)

You’re never lonely when you can have fun alone.

By Maria Alina R. Co

Remember
Bridget Jones’ Diary and the all too unforgettable scene when Bridget spends the night home and sings “All by Myself"? That scene was hilarious, right?

But given a different context (she was, after all, depressed), is it really that unpleasant to be “all by yourself?"


Why are some people agitated when they’re alone?

Alone is not the same as being lonely.

American author Henry David Thoreau said everything pretty much in a nutshell: “I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude."

Based from experience, spending alone time is actually healthy and beneficial.

Sounds cliche, but it’s the perfect time for you to get to know yourself better. Whenever I have to make that crucial decision, instead of drinking with friends, why not find some “me" time to think, reflect, refresh and rejuvenate? Especially for us female urbanites, city stress can wear us down. Spending “alone" time doesn’t have to be as expensive as globe-trotting, ala-
Eat, Pray, Love.

Travel alone to a new place
Have you watched
Under the Tuscan Sun? Try reading Ann Tyler’s novel Back When We Were Grownups. Both women traveled to a foreign place to find themselves. So why don’t you head of town, with that small backpack and a favorite book or two? Being a stranger in a foreign land can help you get to know yourself better.

Soul-search in a hotel
If you’re not up and ready to go out of town, book a hotel room, and bring your laptop or notebook. It’s time to relish a spic and span room and pamper your self with hotel amenities. Pick a unit that has a veranda overlooking the city. Believe me, the view works wonders. Then face your laptop or poise your pen on that blank paper and write away. You’ll be surprised at the thoughts that pour out when you’re just alone.

Feel spectacular after a soup and spa
After a grueling day at work, just let loose. A full body massage at Wensha Spa only costs P680.00, inclusive of food and drinks. Their specialty is the shabu-shabu. I don’t know about you, but a cup of steaming soup instantly takes away the blues-all the time.

Try a new hobby/sport
Sometimes routine work and school can get you down. I have a lot of friends who have great jobs but suddenly find themselves burned out. But I’ve also learned that pursuing a new hobby can save your job. A friend from a multinational bank was already bent on resigning, when she found passion for running. Exercise took away the boredom of an 8-5 desk job. I myself was at the brink of resigning from a TV Network as a supervisor (without a new job replacement) when I joined a voice-acting/dubbing workshop. I met new friends and I found new joy in my otherwise ho-hum job.

There are a lot of hobbies you can pursue like blogging, photography, video editing, cooking, etc.

So despite your hectic schedule, try to find some “alone time". It’s fun and refreshing to be alone, every now and then. And you bounce back better than ever to interact and face other people and life, basically.


Sunday, October 3, 2010

A Walk in the Neighborhood


It's been some time since I've walked around the neighborhood and had the time and presence of mind to absorb and breathe things in.

Of course, day in and day out in an 8- 5 job, I'd walk a good 10 minute-sprint from our house to the jeep/FX terminal. But because I am always, ALWAYS, running late, I barely have time to look around and observe.

For fear of exposing where I exactly live, let's just say I live in lower grounds of Pasig, in a middle class neighborhood. Unlike private subdivisions, there are no guards that check the stream of vehicles and residents coming in. Any person is as free as a stray dog or a mother hen to stroll the streets for a leisurely walk or any other purpose.

Today, my mom and I walk towards a nearby mall for just a bit of exercise and maybe, some shopping on the side. Along the way, I keep warning my mom of the dog poo on the street, as that definitely would have ruined our chances of being allowed into the mall.

Our village's center is called a "kanto", a commercial place with a palengke, fruit stands, school supplies shop, parlors, a cloth alteration shop, some convenient stores, a bakery, an internet shop, lots of e-load stations, fish ball stands, a mobile mami tayo, selling hot noodle soup for just ten bucks -- everything a modern-day living Filipino needs to thrive and survive.

Our kanto is the perfect epitome of the backward way a Filipino lives. Cars and vehicles double-parked on all sides, sidewalks supposedly for passersby on foot like us occupied and blocked by vendors of DVDs, fish, sandals and other assortment of odds and ends. A nearby tricycle terminal with overworked (and some over-drugged) drivers causes me to be cautious and nervous, not for me but for my mom. You can be too careful, but when you're not on a side walk, a tricycle, a motor or a car can just zoom by and hurt you.

I hold my mom's hands firmly, guiding her carefully through the zig and zag of our market. For her, it's a jungle, an obstacle course with the bumps on the road, the man hole, the cracks on the floor where there is dark murky water, the smelly dirty side walks moistened by the friendly neighborhood butcher who throws a pail of reddish bloody water again and again.

Our kanto is a melting pot of Filipino masa -- the pineapple vendor rumored to be a former ex-con, three gay parloristas, with blond hair streaked with white, betraying their age, hungrily watching out for the neigborhood hunks, who are also hoodlums just fresh from a basketball game, the resident loony called Jimbo, who was a former drug addict, infamously rumored to have drugged himself to insanity. Everyone has had a chance encounter with Jimbo with his incessant, "Miss, miss, pengeng piso." And of course, the sad mothers with their swollen bellies and their little tykes wrapped around their arms and even their legs, bawling for attention and some twenty pesos to buy some tsitsiria and a bottle of coca cola.

We turn at the corner-- my mother and I-- and buy some sweet lanzones and bananas. The policeman winks at me and offers to hold the bags I was carrying so that my hand can be free to pick soft lanzones among the pile. The vendor narrates an amusing anecdote about these two elderly women who asks for two lanzones to check if they're sweet... "Sabi nung ale, isa pa nga kumuha pa ng dalawa, tapos dalawa pa 'di tig-apat na sila. Hindi pa rin nakuntento, kumuha pa ng tigalawa." The policeman exposes a toothy grin. "Naknamputa, bumili nga, one-fourth lang ang binili, sabi ko naisahan ako nitong dalawang to ha!" At this point, the policeman chuckles loudly. I smile back at them to show I was also amused.

As we step inside the mall, an air-conditioned, brightly-lit market, filled with stores, boutiques, tiangges, food booths and restaurants, I feel a mixture of relief and sadness. I don't understand why, but for some reason, looking at all that circus of a mall, with the neon signs, 50% discounts, arcades, a girl belting out a Sarah Geronimo in a videoke booth, french fries, long lines in the Lotto stand, and the song and dance show at the recreational stage area, I suddenly feel confused. It seems fake, even artificial, and the raw albeit dangerous kanto seemed more real and genuine to me.

My mom buys a cork board and a discounted paperback novel. I nudge her arm, "Ma, tara lakad tayo ulit sa labas."