ASAP Is It

As I have mentioned here  before, I don’t normally watch television but I listen to  the radio when I am gardening. 

I stumbled upon this  online vlog by Zsa Zsa Padilla, one of those artists who is a talented singer as well.  She is a natural in front of the camera, no wonder, she already earned two million followers on YouTube.  She is a mainstay of ASAP (All-Star Sunday Afternoon Party) but then last August ABS-CBN, the largest communications network here in the country closed its doors because their franchise was not renewed by this government. Anything that opposes it is shut down.

Yesterday,  ASAP which used to be carried by ABS-CBN  reopened in collaboration with another TV channel. Some programs are also now being carried by Zoe Broadcasting  Network which was re-branded as A2Z  TV.

Back to Zsa Zsa, she  posted their opening numbers at ASAP with various  artists singing a medley of Tagalog  and English Christmas songs which I used to listen to every Christmas season. I was mesmerized. Nabuhayan ako ng loob.  There is still  Christmas 🙂 How lovely to listen and watch them render those lovely melodies.  We don’t have Zoe channel so I watched it on my cellphone. So nice to be carried away by those entertaining and lively music. There is something now that I could go back watching and be inspired.

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I Want

I am finally done trimming the carabao grass early this morning. Hooray.

A few days ago, Jovy taught me how to download the I Want  app on my tab, tried it today  and I super enjoyed watching two movies, listening to Pilipino Christmas carols on YouTube and I also watched the final games of the UAAP Season 82  which ended a few minutes ago. I only watch basketball during the UAAP (University Athletic Association of the Philippines) season. Ateneo won for the third straight year with UST coming in second in the basketball championship. It was a lovely game with both sides of players giving their best shots. I think I told you in my other posts that I seldom watch television much less a movie. Occasionally though, I catch some movie adaptations on YouTube. The I Want app is owned by one of the largest networks in the country, ABS CBN. It has news, entertainment, music, variety shows, drama series, sports and movies especially produced by ABS CBN. I had a grand time selecting two movies to watch, one is even dubbed in English which I think was for international release. I finally found it a joy to watch something while in bed 🙂 For a while checking my blog and reading other blog posts and reading  books were relegated to the back seat 🙂 Our local talents/artists are truly gifted.

Maybe I would watch one more tonight before going to sleep.Haha, it’s a marathon.

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Crossing Borders

Original Pilipino Music.

There is this new show on ABS CBN channel called I Love OPM which started over the weekend.  It only airs during Saturdays and Sundays. As the airtime was a bit late, I  was not able to watch the initial showing but Josef did and he said it was  lovely, the concept is new and interesting. I don’t really watch television every day but sometimes there are programs worth waiting for.  They feature Pilipino music composed by talented Filipino musicians/artists and what  makes it all the more interesting is that all participants of the show are foreigners. They sure know how to speak Tagalog.

Last night, we watched the Sunday edition – it’s entertainment at its best.  There were three  featured individual contestants and a group from Korea – one is an Arab guy who is fluent in Tagalog, another one is a shy Indian who has a big crush on Anne Curtis. The third one is a Russian lady who is married to a Filipino guy and said that she loves the Philippines. The  group from Korea  sang and danced.  The Russian lady did a rap. They really went out of their way to learn the Pilipino language and speak it like a native.  It’s kind of amazing when you see a foreign face singing a Tagalog song.

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” – Aldous Huxley

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A Song From The Heart

When music inspires, the soul rejoices and the heart is happy.

Yesterday was one of those days that kept me a little morose. Being alone has its rewards, the interminable silence that keeps your mind wander  but there are times when you feel that you need to do something aside from talking to yourself and your three dogs.  My son called up yesterday and told me that he was really happy to stay in Boracay for a week.  “I know” I said, it is a much-needed break. They will be coming home tomorrow and I am excited to see him again.

Out of boredom (yes, I was really bored) I played Christmas carols on YouTube. Seeing the digitally remastered  Christmas album of Johnny Mathis made me smile. It made me remember my Dad when he was alive. He used to have this LP and it was a family favorite  and we would all look forward to listening to the album in our portable player every time Christmas season comes. It brought back lovely memories  of the past, nostalgic and magical.  I visited Hallmark channel too and checked all the uploaded full movies that you can just click and play. I found A Song From The Heart  which was worth the almost two hours  I was glued to the monitor. It starred Amy Grant, Keith Carradine and D. W. Moffett. Amy Grant is cast as Maryann Lowery, a blind music teacher. New Age pianist Gregory Pavan (D.W. Moffett) became romantically involved with the talented  Maryann and coaxed her to have an eye operation because he knew she had what it takes to be world-renowned concert cellist. Oliver Comstock  (Keith Carradine), is cast as a close neighbor who has always worshipped Maryann  from afar. I had a great time watching and listening to the music. And as if that wasn’t enough, I watched another movie (for the nth time,  I guess).  I read the book  The Promise when I was in college and watched the movie adaptation with my youngest brother during the mid-eighties. That  was back when Danielle Steel was such a very popular romantic novelist and some of her books were made into movies. I was curious if the movie which I loved thirty years back would still hold the same  fascination for me. It did. I  think the latter was the movie where I memorized the name of the characters, aside from another favorite movie Dying Young.  I accidentally found  the book version many years after watching the movie several times too. The movie adaptation was I think better than the book and I loved the music of Kenny G.

The power of music – it makes you smile, it makes you sing too but sometimes it makes you cry. “Music is the wine that fills the cup of silence” so says Robert Fripp. Do you agree? I do.

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Sound Of Love

♫♪♫Two drifters off to see the world
There’s such a lot of world to see
We’re after the same rainbow’s end
Waiting ’round the bend
My huckleberry friend, moon river and me♪♪♫

Haha, don’t get me wrong and don’t be deceived by the title of this blog.  I am just inspired to write about Sound of Love, a musical concert ( a replay actually) I watched  yesterday while ironing. I must admit I seldom watch TV because I am more into listening to the radio and reading when I have time. Yesterday though, I found this PBO channel with Mark Bautista, one of our most talented local singers belting out When I Fall In Love with such a cool and powerful voice that I was mesmerized.  I was glued to the TV screen until the end. It was held at the Music Museum on August 10 last year and he said between songs that it was his birthday. There is always something too about seeing a live band accompanying the singer, the music was just so lovely and beautiful.  And his voice, wow, it fits to a T all those ballads of old that somehow remind you of dreams, first love and lovely memories. What am I saying?  It’s his 10th year in the music world.

I had goose bumps when he sang Moon River.  He also sang Bato Sa Buhangin, an old-time favorite.  I dream of owning a copy of this  CD album and maybe relive the feeling of  crying (do you also cry when you’re happy?)  and at the same time having that wide smile because I witnessed something so beautiful  and so lovely.

Mark Bautista, you rock!

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Embracing Motherhood With Love

I watched Kris.tv this morning, one of those rare times that I get to sit in front of the television for an early morning show. I am glad I did because I liked her guests, Janice de Belen and her kids with ex-hubby John Estrada. It was a thrill to watch them, three lovely girls and her bunso, a John Estrada look-alike but he has a charm of his own. We all know that Janice de  Belen has gone through so much in life but watching her and her lovely kids during the interview,  you would surmise that she is a very strong woman and I admire her for that. She said that it was only last year that she found herself again without her kids knowing that she cries when they are asleep. She cooks and it is so obvious that she is so proud of her kids.

Motherhood! What a sweet word and yet it entails a lot of responsibilities  but still you embrace it with love. Time and again, I’ve shared some blogs on being a mother but now I relish the thought of being a grandma ….in less than two months. It is quite exciting to see your kids finally having one of their own. How you brought them up would reflect on how they will tackle the responsibilities of married life and all.  I am also looking forward to having baby Nate to play with, and to pamper (just a little, maybe).

“It takes a Mother’s love to make a house a home, a place to be remembered, no matter where we roam.”  That’s a quote from Helen Steiner Rice.

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Rainy Days And Sundays

It’s been raining cats and dogs since last night and I am glad that I attended an anticipated mass earlier. When I woke up this morning, it was again raining hard, a downpour that  you could do nothing about except to  look out of the window and count the splash brought by some cars braving the heavy downpour.  Yes, a hot cup of coffee would ease the sense of let-down that one feels  but this I guess is also the best time to let your mind wanders. There are things and events that are best remembered on rainy days, memories that give that smile on your face and lit your world like a 100-watt bulb  sans the pain of recalling  the sad times.

Music always brings  that glow of remembrance and the selections at YouTube come in handy when you are reminiscing the good old days. Perhaps you’ll agree with me that the rainy days are the best times to reminisce  or simply put, I may just be growing old. I don’t know but I am having a blast right now listening to Stars on 45  by the Beatles and the Carpenters before that.  And you guess it, my mom used to sing with the Carpenters while making peculiar dance steps alternately with  my baby daughter and her older cousin by a few months.  And you guess it right again, her favorite was Top Of The World 🙂 by Karen Carpenter, the best female vocalist of her time.  That was twenty-nine years ago and my daughter is expecting a son in a few months.  How time really flies!

I am never tempted to watch television on a Sunday, I’d rather catch up on my reading or update my blog, or chat with some friends at our closed group on FB.  So you see, that’s multi-tasking to the max.  I am looking for  more rainy day songs to borrow and upload here at WordPress.  And I remember the other blog I did a year ago, about having LSS when a favorite actor during my high school days added me up in his friend’s list.  So of course here’s first on the list, Rainy Days and Mondays by Karen Carpenter.

And don’t you just love The Cascades?

And this one is the best I think, from the Cascades, one of my favorite groups of the sixties.

And that’s how rainy days and  Sundays go, listening to music and remembering a period in one’s life with fondness.

(Thanks to Vinyl solution, Nelson Wilby  and YouTube for all these great songs)

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Goodbye Tito Dolphy (Thank You For Making Us Laugh)

I’d like to pray tribute to the man who shared himself with us, making us laugh through the years. He was one sure KING OF COMEDY! Thank you for the laughter, you will be sorely missed! Go towards the light.

God our Father,
Your power brings us to birth,
Your providence guides our lives,
and by Your command we return to dust.

Lord, those who die still live in Your presence,
their lives change but do not end.
I pray in  hope for my family,
relatives and friends,
and for all the dead known to You alone.

In company with Christ,
Who died and now lives,
may they rejoice in Your kingdom,
where all our tears are wiped away.
Unite us together again in one family,
to sing Your praise forever and ever.

Amen.

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Goodbye April, Hello May

There were times in my past posts when I would blog about saying goodbye to the receding month and saying hello to the new one. Lately though, life has been a bit muddled so I completely forgot all about it.  April was uneventful except for the time that two more members of my online Apostolate came over to meet me. It was the first time we saw each other after almost two years of exchanging comments at our group.  Carolyn came  home for a two-week vacation and Nestel who works in Angola came over from Bataan just to meet me. These are those times that I truly feel grateful for having friends who show that they care. Lilet  of course has been here  several times already so she knows the place very well.

Ah yes,I almost forgot,  Bobic, my eight-year old niece tagged along when my brother and sis-in-law brought back Mom from  a month stay in the province and we celebrated the latter’s 83rd birthday last Saturday.  My niece was brandishing a new cellphone which is even better than the one I am using. She proudly told us that she got the highest honors in Grade III so my brother bought her a new one. I wonder if this is practical considering her age but she could navigate every gadget she gets her hands on in a matter of minutes, and her texts come with smiley emoticons 🙂  She promised to take a short vacation  here once her advance summer class is through.

Come to think of it, I am listening to some songs in YouTube while typing this blog, humming along with the music, It Must Have Been Love from the movie Pretty Woman. Sometimes, just sometimes, I miss listening to songs  like this, definitely a  I am happy-you-made-my-day kind of feeling, if you know what I mean.  Next in line is Richard Harris’ MacArthur Park, another favorite . Goodness, it’s the thrill of listening to these old, old songs that makes me smile. One thing though that I am always reminded of every time month of May sets in is the song by The Bee Gees, First of May. That completes the nostalgia trip….haha!  I created a new account at Facebook because I am trimming down my contacts exclusively for close friends and will use it as repository for my blogs here on WordPress.  I thought of using  networked blogs, on second thought I don’t want to link every blog I post here.  And I was laughing out loud when a friend made a marathon of reading my links and even had a nostalgia trip reading I Do All My Crying In The Rain because she could relate. We both admire Cocoy Laurel. Those were the days, the days of Lollipops and Roses. 

And in between updating my wall, I am trying to finish Stephen King’s Cell.  This has been with me for the past three years, a book sent by a high school classmate from the US but it’s only now that I got the time to read it. You don’t read Stephen King’s books at night, do you? Because I am sure that if you do, you’ll get a nightmare.

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Stirrings of First Love?

Great! The lovely story is slowly unfolding. And I am still talking about Dahil Sa Pag-ibig on its fifth episode. Finally, the main characters Piolo Pascual and Cristine Reyes are now introduced into the picture as grown-ups Jasmin and Alfred.  I have a friend who says she’s so “kilig” watching it.  I really must be hooked too, blogging about it again.

So how do you ease the pain of an unrequited first love? How do you move on when you know that deep in your heart, someone matters a lot?  Can you  let go that easily?  It makes me remember the teenage years, the times when  you cried yourself to sleep because you were hurting. But you grow up eventually, all the hurts and the pain become  part of the growing-up years. And the experience makes you strong.  You reminisce and smile a little because you remember and you can relate 🙂

 

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