The Lonely Island: YOLO

While I was watching the latest episode of Saturday Night Live last night hosted by Adam Levine, I got to see another super cool digital short by The Lonely Island featuring Adam himself and Kendrick Lamar. I have been a huge fan of Andy Samberg since I forgot when that's why I was a little bit devastated when I found out that he was leaving SNL and will no longer be a part of its 38th season after 7 years.

I badly missed Andy in SNL that I just had to watch his movies like That's My Boy and Celeste and Jesse Forever, and seeing him back with the other two The Lonely Island members in this episode was just euphoric.

I didn't want to miss this episode because, come on, it's Levine. And for the nth time, he was again wearing his 600-dollar plain white shirt that had holes resembling famished rat doings and is extremely shabby - something that you give to the homeless. That shirt is all I literally see him wear even in his rehearsal sessions in The Voice.

This was another good episode, but with Adam in it, I expected more fun. I wasn't quite satisfied, frankly speaking. But what I really liked was the digital short with The Lonely Island. It becomes a lot like legit with Adam doing the chorus. It's a YOLO mockery and I loved it. Check it out.

American Idol Season 12 Kick Off

First off, I am not a huge fan of American Idol since the beginning. I just decided to follow this season just because I felt like watching a singing competition these days. Plus, I am very curious about how dear old Nicki Minaj behaves around certain kinds of people. Although, I am neutral about her - I don't love nor hate her (I am impressed with her bizarre style though). But I'm guessing since she's a little bit crazy, I'm gonna like her eventually.

For the judges, mehhh~ As implied, I am really fond of Nicki. She's got the attitude. On the other hand, I have never really liked Mariah since I have known music (I know she's one of the greatest singer of all time but that's just how I feel about her). Her and Nicki always bicker. I don't give a huge damn about Randy Jackson. Last but definitely not least, I have high respects for Keith Urban (he's who I like in the panel, by default).

AI 12 already aired two episodes within the past week - New York and Chicago auditions. There were good and bad singing, as usual but nothing really made me say "WTF, this person has stellar vocal abilities." You know what I'm saying? Also, it kinda occurred to me that some auditionees were horribly appalling, those that I think just got lost and decided to audition but there's no way in hell they can sing. Sometimes, I even think that they may just be "actors" who were paid just to make the show a little bit more amusing. I mean, they're really really bad. Even people I know who can't and never sing don't sound as bad. But, since the world is a weird place and it is filled with uniquely weird people, fine.

The main reason I decided on blogging about the show is because I was touched by the story of the last contestant in the Chicago auditions. Lazaro Arbos was born in Cuba and his family moved to Florida when he was 10. Lazaro has a speech problem. He started stuttering at the age of 6. He went through lots of speech therapies but not one helped. His case didn't improve, instead it just got worse. Despite this, he still auditioned and he really did a good job. When he sings, he doesn't stutter.

He is a true inspiration for me.

Angels of Sex

I was browsing through movies I wanted to watch for my spare time when I bumped into one called The Sex of the Angels. It got my attention primarily because of the movie poster. In an instant after seeing the poster, I knew it was interesting. I smelled something out of the ordinary so I decided to watch it (being the cinephile that I am).

At first I thought it was an Israeli movie when I jumped into one scene just to check it out. I have no clue as to why I judged that way but I was obviously mistaken when I heard them speak. Spanish.

I was taken aback by how beautiful the actors were. Their VGL level was the type that would make you want to actually marry a Spanish human being. Plus, and one of the most important, their acting was really good.

Judging by the title itself, you might think that the movie is all sex. It's not. Well, kinda, but mostly not. Even if you see a number of love scenes, you won't think that it's a dirty movie just because the characters don't exemplify the stereotypical nymphomaniacs being usually labeled by the public. They don't have that aura in the film (maybe also because of how properly attractive they are) and as you watch the film, you'll realize that they're not the kind of people who think about sex all the time.

The storyline is quite unconventional (some would think it's WTF) but if you think about it, it may actually reflect today's society (but I guess not much in the Philippines, though). It's very similar to the Korean movie I watched a few years ago Hello My Love but much more intense (considering how conservative Asians are). It's kind of a bisexual-three-way relationship. There's this heterosexual couple who are very much in love then here comes a guy who messes it up by getting involved with both of them. The epitome of the so called love triangle.

The film ended how I wanted it to. I'm tired of tragic endings. This one has none of that. Well, almost.. but it didn't happen. Just enough to tingle into your senses. They actually decided on being a stable three-way relationship because the couple couldn't stand being apart from the guy. Which is cool. Now, now. It's the 21st century but if you disagree with that, it's fine too. But yes, it's way too complicated and I think it wouldn't work out for the three of them in the long run.

iTunes 11 (Slight) Redemption

With the initial release of the very first version of iTunes 11, I have posted some time ago about my rage on some of its shortcomings. With the release of version 11.0.1.12, the slightly improved one, it got kinda better.

Owl City's Midsummer Station

What I really like about 11 is it's ability to adapt the colors of the album artwork and make it the color theme of the whole playlist. Other than that, nothing. Basically, I only liked the interface, which is probably one of the unimportant things to consider.

I was already able to search through my devices unlike the previous version. But the top bar which displays the artists, albums, and genres are still not narrowed down to what you search for, making it a hassle sometimes. So I think that's what Apple should acknowledge next. I hope.

Cliché Relations Officer

I admit that I am a person with a considerable amount of pride. I do not, almost at all times, let myself become needy nor desperate over anything not crucially important. My pride is very important to me and I believe that it helps me come up with sound decisions and actions that contribute to my betterment.

Most of the time, I try to figure out how to do things myself instead of making other people show me how it's done. It's mostly because of my pride, but not entirely, needless to say. That also only works with things that aren't so technical. Otherwise, I would already need some expert advice.

In terms of relationships, pride is equally important for me. If you are planning on entering a serious, faithful and loyal relationship, pride in oneself as well as trust should be prerequisite. Without those two traits, love and affection between both sides will definitely break apart in one way or another. I myself have been in a considerable amount of flings, two more or less serious relationships and I admit that I was the jerk that's why I pretty much learned from my deeds. I don't regret them, though.

You two love each other so much. That's great. If that continues until you decide to get married, create a family, occasionally quarrel about something, and die together, better. If that's not the case, then learn from this important pointer in most (young) relationships:

♥ In the event that anytime in your relationship your partner cheats on you, or simply just tells you they don't love you no more, then let them go (if it was the latter situation, dump them). The phrase "fighting for love" is so much bullcrap if you're gonna do it yourself. Both of you should. Then that would be an exception. Never go on pathetic mode running towards them asking back desperately for their affection. That's pretty much pointless. You need to preserve your dignity and pride.

Resolutions are Bullsh*t

R.I.P 2012, Happy Birthday 2013

Let me guess, these are probably the entries people will put in their New Year's resolutions (which won't actually be done):

- lose weight
- stop eating (for Christ's sake)
- not be lazy
- lose weight
- lose weight
- lose weight

Today is the start of another year, obviously. However, it doesn't necessarily mean it's the only time we should make changes in our lives. If change is necessary regardless of the time of the year, do it. My point is, New Year's resolutions are bullcrap. Besides, they don't get committed 90 percent of the time, anyway. I bet people only say they have resolutions just for the sake of saying they have it. Grow up, please. Nobody gives a fuck anymore. If you wanna do it, do it. If not, we won't care either way.

All I know is, I love watching fireworks displays. Especially epic ones. Like that one in Diseyland where I almost pissed my pants. Oh wait, that wasn't for New Year.

Meh.

PS. Happy Birthday to all New Year babies whose birthdays have once again been completely ignored. Don't feel bad. It's a happy day.

Veselé Vánoce

I was thinking of what to name this post and since "Merry Christmas" is already too mainstream, I decided to have it in a different language. Even though I have no idea how to say "Veselé Vánoce", I still chose it because it looks good, linguistic wise, and I've never heard anyone say it before. It's Czech, by the way.

Christmas eve is still the same, but with a couple of members absent. This year, dad couldn't be around because he's gone away to another country because of work. Well, he was actually present - virtually. Since my older brother has already family of his own, he is away with them for the holidays as well. For this year's Noche Buena, it's just me, my mum, and little sis.

Besides that, everything just went really fine. Mum still cooked us the greatest pasta and whatnot (I was hoping for a situation wherein I was outside, pelting snowballs at random people passing by). We ate dinner over Michael Bublé's Christmas album playing while subtle rain outside made the wind chilly.

Tomorrow (later, technically) during the real Christmas, more family members will be together same as every year. Annually, we gather in our grandparents' home and everyone in the extended family are there giving all of us a chance to keep up with each others' lives since most of the time we're busy with our own. From grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins and siblings, everyone will be exchanging gifts.

Since it's really fucking late, I'll probably be sleeping my whole Christmas morning later. Basically, I'll miss giving candies to children and I'm really hoping to miss giving cash gifts to my godchildren. I have like, 14 of them already. I'm too young for that count. Which godparent is not gonna hide with that kind of number?

[Side note: It's raining harder. I hope it continues until later. *evil smirk*]

I don't know why but just right before the eve ended, I found myself watching the 2005 romantic drama film Brokeback Mountain. Definitely not a movie for the season but, whatever. Way back when it was still the talk of the town (or world), I only skimmed through the movie quickly (for some reason I had no chance to properly watch it) ergo I wasn't able to appreciate the plot just yet.

[Side note: The power went off. Yes, on Christmas eve. For a couple of hours. I had to feel our electric corporation's unreasonable bitchness during the gay yuletide. So then, to make the most out of the fucked up situation on a past midnight when the generator can no longer be turned on, I was compelled to cut the movie to save battery for the iPad and instead, I, for the meantime, (woo, that's a lot of commas) read Ellen Degeneres' Seriously, I'm Kidding while waiting for the electricity to come back. It's a funny read, though. I recommend the book to all bored, has-all-the-time-in-the-world bums like me.]

This time, I focused myself on grasping the movie's fundamental importance; basically, to watch it with sincerity. Cinephilia wise, I was into absorbing the artisticity of the film, and indeed, it deserved all the many awards it received. It's a depressingly great movie. It's so depressing that it entirely changed my mood from being engulfed with Christmas delight to embracing a gloomy grey romantic setting. There was even a part of the movie where I actually broke down into tears because of sympathy for one of the characters.

Jack: I wish I knew how to quit you.
Ennis: Then why don't you? *sobbing* It's because of you, Jack that I'm like this. I'm nothing. I'm nowhere.
Jack: *embraces Ennis* It's alright. It's alright. Damn you, Ennis...

Frankly, I hated myself for watching the movie. It's a really great work of art but it brought me sad emotions. I really felt for the characters. I'm so glad that the film wasn't based on a true story. Otherwise, I would have definitely felt worse. Nevertheless, I loved it and I applaud the actors Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger, the director Ang Lee, and the rest of the crew. Nice job.

Laila

As the title suggests, this post is dedicated to one of my bestest best friends (I have three) in the whole entire universe, Laila Grace.. Since she just turned 23 more than a week ago and I felt my greeting wasn't strong enough, I'm also making this post. It was sincere, though.

Laila is half Ghanaian, half Filipino. Basically, she's Afrasian. Her father is from Ghana, Africa and her mom's from Guiuan, where we grew up. We have been friends for about 18 years now, since we were like, 5 or 6 when we started schooling.

Laila and I had so many ups and downs throughout our friendship. When we were younger, we always fought and argued (even today, but more mature, whimsical arguments).

She is a character. If people that know her were to be asked what they can say about her, they'd probably answer distinct and unique traits because she's badass like that.

These are just a few things among so many things that I know about her that I think can actually be published publicly:

(1) She's a singer. She idolizes Christina Aguilera and Rihanna to name a few.
(2) When she sings, she replaces so many words in the lyrics with other words that just sound alike. Hence, her being called the composer.
(3) She likes to give advice and then quoting her grandmother with words of wisdom (or superstitions).
(4) Even in our own dialect, she makes new words to describe something. The strange thing is, even if the word is entirely new, we still get what she means. (i.e mapara-para [rough as in surface], alunan [pillow], "what do you mean, so not?")
(5) Among the four of us, she is the purest and most truthful. She only lies for very important reasons.
(6) She may not accept it, but her skin color is one of the best among black-colored people I have personally seen in my life.
(7) She is one of the nicest and most generous people I have ever known.
(8) She's gorgeous.

I have had so many super fun experiences and bloopers with Laila in many different places. I don't know if I should tell this but I'm gonna go ahead anyway. Hehe.

When Laila and I went to Singapore for vacation, she got stuck at the immigration office at the airport because of some misunderstanding with a rather strict immigration officer. I was very worried waiting for her at one bench near a conveyor belt, watching people of different races come and go, clueless of what to do. My phone wasn't picking up signal yet because Globe has a very outstanding roaming service, thank you.

Seeing her cousin ate Jaren and her roommate ate Kan waiting for us at the arrival area, I quickly went to up to them and explained what happened. After an hour of tension and anxiety, we all sighed in relief as we saw her coming out of the office, smirking. Apparently, she was the only one who got released the earliest (I bet it was because of her Japanese visa. Hah.) It was kinda worrisome but it was a fun experience (at least for me).

Unfortunately, she is away right now. She's already in Japan with her mom for more than a year now. She's already a resident there which reminds me, Kinna and I will be visiting her in Japan next year since she won't be coming back home anytime soon. I'm quite excited about the trip not only because we'll be having a reunion but also because Japan is one of my most favorite places in the entire earth! We miss her badly.

Despite everything we had been through, we stayed best friends. And we always will stay that way for as long as we exist.

I'm hoping that sooner or later, the four of us could go together on a trip of a lifetime. Karla, who is currently in the US, is the farthest right now. I'm also hoping that if ever I move to New Zealand soon, I'll be able to go back home for anything important, or whatever. Kinna will most probably go to Australia. At least that's near New Zealand. Sigh. Talk about friends drifting apart. Hah.

Laila, you know that I love you, we love you. We hope that you're doing really well (even if we're just a messaging application away). Happy birthday and we'll see you very soon.

PS. And after a few moments, I'll be all like, "Chariiiiing!"

Goodbye?... NOT

Earlier, I was drinking my milk chocolate drink Swiss Miss when I realized that the presumed end of the world is going to happen in less than two hours. After a moment of silence, I realized that I don't give a fuck. I mean, who does? The Mayans? Please, they're about to be the biggest joke on earth.

I don't even know why I am acknowledging this madness. It's ridiculous. Honestly, not one person I know believes in this crap. I would have been more scared of dying back in the year 2000 because that year made more sense in line with these groundless predictions.

Gangnam Style. Please, pop culture does not have any connection whatsoever with the maelstrom of physical and chemical chaos on the grounds of astrological phenomena. I didn't know what I just said but that's that, you get the point.

Another thing, it has been the 21st in New Zealand for hours now and as far as I'm concerned, my cousins there are still alive. They just posted statuses on Facebook.

That's all I can say for now. If the world doesn't end later (which will be the scenario), I will be updating this post.

Merry Christmas.

PS. I have tons of pending blog posts. Like, there are a zillion unfinished drafts in my post list because I am an insatiable freak who keeps running out of fitting words for what I want to express. Wow.

[Update]
It's already 1:20AM. Still here, alive and kicking. Aside from the oddly strong winds outside, the earth did not budge. Although I still feel dizzy and dying from too much coughing, so I think the world ending today wouldn't be a huge problem for me. Oh well, I guess I better start making my life sensible again. Crap.

Yiruma's Impromptu

I finally got myself a copy of my ultimate favorite pianist Yiruma's latest album, Stay in Memory. I have been a huge fan of Yiruma for so many years, since Kiss the Rain and River Flows in You, which are some of my all-time favorites.

As usual, listening to his beautifully made pieces just puts me in a very soulful slow-motion dream. They just captivate the wholeness of me, especially my favorite ones.

Speaking of favorites, my favorite track in this album (which I cannot stop listening to) is the 5th one, Impromptu. I have no idea why the track is called as such but I'm guessing this one's special. Perhaps Yiruma made it in a snap, spot-on, and it turned out just prefect.

The first time I heard the track, my heart melted. The first few notes made me fall in love instantly. It's a magical piece. It puts this positively melancholic tender burst of happiness not only into my ears but through my entirety. Although I already tried, words cannot express how I feel towards this song.

This will of course go to my favorite Yiruma tracks playlist and the replay button will definitely die an unending death.

12.09.12

From what I can remember, the whole family of my mum's eldest brother were anticipating the taking of the BAR exam of their 2nd child and eldest daughter. Before the exam, I saw a video of her broadcasting herself of some sort and I could distinctly remember her saying that she was going to take the said exam.

Apparently, upping a video of you in any online streaming site before the exam was out of line (that was weird because the exam wasn't anything related to public participation or anything for that matter). Then we saw a huge sign of her name in front of the school saying "this student attempted to broadcast herself... therefore disqualifying her from taking the BAR exam." Her family was devastated. There was even this image of her being arrested by the cops. I thought they were narcs.

In the later part, I was at home and I found my PSP lying around. Since I wasn't able to play that in years, I tried downloading these PSP games from the internet (i.e Beats, some RPG games I forgot the names of). By the way, the monitor of my PC was not LCD yet, it was still CRT. Classic.

Suddenly, I was already in a convenience store owned by a cousin of mine, the daughter of my dad's first cousin. As far as I was concerned, she was a blogger. Although in my dream she was a cashier in her store which had RTWs, footwear, and of course, convenience store products, I had this assumption that she was making a blog post since she was in the computer, busy.

By the way, her store was located somewhere else other than the Philippines.

I was in one corner of her store, busy with my own computer thingamajig. There was a sliding window nearby and this guy, who I thought was one of our drivers, opened the window and said something to me. I was surprised he was there because well, I was in a place far away from where he could incidentally be. We did a special handshake or something.

A few moments later, my cousin and I were engaged in a fun conversation with a few guys inside their store when this awkwardly weird guy came inside. We fell in silence watching him and figured he was a criminal. He slowly went up to the store goods, took some and left without paying. I guess we were all agitated and scared to stop him, so we didn't. There were discontinued or prevented attempts, though. My cousin had two cash registers. The other one was in a seemingly unnoticeable area.

Then I woke up.

Do the Opposite

I just had a long superfluous chat with my friends earlier about things happening as young adults, if you know what I mean. When I checked the fridge for something to scoff up before bedtime, this random thought popped into my mind.

I found a Double Overload (Double Dutch & Rocky Road) ice cream in the freezer. That was one of my favorite sorbet flavors. I knew that eating that ninety-nine was a mistake because I had a cough. As far as I was taught, eating or drinking cold stuff when your throat is not in a good condition will just make it worse.

While I was consuming the ice cream, ironic things were running through my mind. First, it reminded me of people in the past that I have heard saying you have to fight the things which your physique considers to be enemies. Like for instance, you have allergies with nuts. In order to fight off the allergy, all you have to do is to eat as much nuts as you can until your body allows itself to become immune to it.

Perhaps I was just thinking that because I was being rational about eating ice cream whilst having a bad throat. Also, I think that that was a terrible comparison since fighting off allergies and making a minor illness worse are two immensely different situations.

On that note, I realized that despite the logical philosophy of making yourself immune from things that aren't necessarily in agreement with your nature, what I should do is just to prevent it. I should do the opposite. I shouldn't make it worse. I think that'll be much better.

But towards that conclusion of my realization, I found myself having the last scoop of the ice cream.

Instaloco

Yes, Instagram. But for the record, I rarely post food. It's mostly about my poor face. If you are tolerant towards pathetic vanity, follow me. Hahaha! If you want to see my profile on your computer, follow this link. If you have Instagram on your iPhone, Android, or any other mobile OS that entertains the app, follow me: juliusrenz89.

In a world today where genuine photography skills are sacrificed or undermined because of the world's most famous mobile-only photo social networking platform Instagram, I wouldn't mind being in it. However, I myself am a photography enthusiast (the real thing, by the way) and I am kinda eyebrows-raised towards people who think they have a shot on art just because they have filtered low quality photos on Instagram. But whatever, not my life.

I also put up my own photography account. The username is juliofotografia. I hope you can follow that as well because it's new. There, I upload photos that I have by far took since I started photography a few years ago up until today (only the ones I consider good shots).

iTunes 11 Fail

I knew there was a reason behind why I kept ignoring the iTunes update notification. My gut was subconsciously telling me that the new version would suck. Fine, the interface is great but that's useless if you can't use the software conveniently.

I am very upset about my iTunes right now. Why? Simply because it doesn't let me search media on my device via the search bar (which supposedly is its major purpose). It only searches the library and the iTunes store, NOT your own device. Rather stupid, ain't it?

Dear Apple, have you really thought this update through? I'm beginning to believe that you only want to show the world you are able to release frequent updates that's why you have this but sadly, the efficiency of your services are being taken for granted. Love, a concerned, annoyed, and extremely disappointed consumer.

See, every time I use my computer to play songs on my Apple devices, I always use the search bar to get to the song that I want to play. Now, not being able to do that would be fine if all my devices only had a few songs in them (which would be dumb, really). But no, like for instance my iPod Classic where I put ALL of my songs from all eternity, that thing has over 6,000 songs in it. How the fuck am I supposed to easily browse through all of those if I can't just type a keyword? Tell me a good solution for that Apple and I'll let this slip.

I desperately hope you realize this huge mistake and release a new version soon acknowledging this failure. Fortunately, this is free so it's highly impractical for me to go to the extent of suing you, coincidentally giving Samsung a favor. Oh yes, I mentioned your archenemy. By the way, it's Korean. I love Koreans.

You can argue with me all day bickering about your point but I'm afraid that's gonna be stalemate because there is no way in hell I'm gonna get my ass beat up by your shitty excuses.

Earth calling to the brilliant Apple software developers who just proved themselves to be dumbasses by this time (no offense). If you, by any meager chance be able to read this post, I would really appreciate it if you'd do something about this. I wouldn't have done this if your products were cheap. Thank you.

PS. I still have my iTunes 10 point something installer. I'm gonna uninstall this current crap and have that installed again. I strongly hope it works because if not, I will have you know that my rage for you will worsen.

[12.20.12 Update]
The Apple software developers have read my post (I think) and in the recent iTunes version release, they acknowledged this downfall. I can now search my devices' contents using the search bar (although not entirely - the albums list does not narrow down to what I search for, but that's fine I think I'll be able to deal with that for now).

Thank you.

Gong Chaaaaa

I have yet again discovered something I love - Gong Cha Milk Tea, particularly Winter Melon. Well, I actually wouldn't have discovered this if not for my cousin who introduced it to me and who knew I would love it.

Before anything else, let me just say that I am not a huge fan of teas. It's not my cup of tea. Hahaha! Get the joke? You get it.

Anyways, yeah, I don't drink tea nor coffee. I have no idea why. Well for coffees, I basically don't like the taste they leave in the mouth. That's discomforting for me especially if I can't brush my teeth right after drinking. As for teas, I don't know. Maybe I just wasn't used to drinking them.

Anyways, while my cousin and I were in this fairly huge mall, she suddenly suggested I try this certain milk tea in Gong Cha. I agreed primarily because she said I was gonna love it and it was milk. I love milk.

When we reached the place, my cousin didn't let me go inside the store just yet. She insisted on buying for me and that it was supposed to be a surprise. I then waited and sat by an empty table outside the store looking very much like an educated homeless. When she got the order, she finally let me in and gave me a very tall drink. The top part was like frappe and beneath it was colored liquid. Apparently, before really indulging to it, there's a process of savoring this unnecessarily costly milk tea. The instructions are all over their store glass walls so you can't miss it.

It's really good. In my opinion, at least. I loved it probably because it was melon. I love almost everything melon flavored. I can't get enough of melon drinks. I love fresh melon juice, Pokka melon milk, melon shakes like Zagu, and a whole other bunch of melon-ness.

They have other great beverages which I most probably won't order in the future because I'll be stuck having Winter Melon. Every chance counts.

PS. Gong Cha did not pay me for writing this post. Lol. I wish they did, though.