Cagayan de Oro At Night

Experienced:  CDO Nightlife

I can't recall if this was on a Friday night but it sure was a bustling one.  Cebu City is already a city, but most people from Luzon still call it "probinsya" which is rather annoying, REALLY!  Now my significant other labelled CDO as "probinsya" which I will never call as such.  Take a look at these...

They have Bo's Coffee!

This complex is Limketkai Mall.  It's even bigger than Ayala Center Cebu.  And they have Bo's Coffee, hello?

A cockpit diner

My apologies to the proprietors of this place.  I had to Google the exact name of the place.  And it's P. Joe's Diner!  It looks like a plane sticking out of the place, but then it's interior is a cockpit.  Nice concept, huh?  So are we still in a "probinsya"?

We don't have this in Cebu

Taza Coffee

I'm not familiar with the Taza brand of coffee.  But the ambiance is good, as if you're not in the Philippines.  Upon further research, Taza is local brand which sprang from Cagayan de Oro City since 1998.  Not bad, huh.  Their coffee tasted good and wouldn't mind going back there again, especially during Christmas.  Hopefully I can try their other delights in the near future.

Hope to see you soon, CDO! 

Over at Cakewalker's

So in my previous post, I was talking about my test run of the Aerosoles footwear.  I trekked in it en route to Cakewalker's Cafe.  I had to head over there to claim my prize from The Lead Character.  So I had to do some waiting for my prize to arrive.  

It's not my first time at Cakewalker's.  A few weeks back I was there to meet up with my "fairy godmother" at itago natin siya sa ngalang Punky.  I already have several clothes made by Punky, from my workwear to something that I have to wear at a wedding.  To while away the time, I had to order something.  So I decided to go for a macadamia nut latte.

My first taste of their coffee

 As for the taste, it tastes like a decent latte, nothing really special.  I would definitely would have loved to have a few extra shots of the macadamia syrup to enhance the taste.

The bar area

The bar is a decent area.  I have no idea as to what brand their espresso machine is, or what kind of beans they are using.  They have an array of flavored syrup but so far, the Torani brand.

 And these are my views from the table where I sat.

 

Another drink that I tried was their Nutty Raspberry.  The raspberry and "nutty" flavors could be discerned in the iced latte.

They may not serve exceptional coffee but I still have yet to pass muster on their cakes.  After all, it's called Cakewalker's Caffe.

So I finally got my prize...a bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila and the Starbuck's 2011 planner.  Thanks very much to The Lead Character for having wonderful prizes for your fun contests.

Trekking in Heels

Experienced:  Aerosoles

I've been following a friend's blog for several months already.  His work is so candid and "in your face", funny, vivid and could just get me out from the occasional slumps that I get in.  Suffice it to say the he has inspired me to keep on writing in my own blog and it's a real compliment to have him follow my blog, ugh!  So several days back, I read his latest post and there it was, another contest wherein the price is a Starbuck's 2011 planner and he decided to throw in a bottle of Jose Cuervo tequila.  My eye was on the planner since I got the 2010 planner last year but alas, I not only gained the planner but a few pounds as well after drinking those Christmas drinks, fraps, and what have you.  So I labored religiously to find the right answers to the questions in order to win.

Lately I have been "down with luck" regarding party raffle draws.  I couldn't even win a Cetaphil Restoraderm body moisturizer, huhuhu.  So I gave this raffle a try.  And what did you know?  I managed to get all the right answers and posted it and voila!  The prize is mine, all mine (insert evil laugh), without the extra pounds.

So I set up the date and time to meet up with my friend to claim my prize.  I was not fated to drive my car today since I happen to incur a flat tire from God knows where (unfortunately I have an inkling) which was not noted by yours truly yesterday.  I had my dad drive me to work and so I had to find my own ride in the afternoon.  Lucky as I am, no taxi was in sight at 5pm.  I had to get to Cakewalker's Cafe so I did some trekking in my Aerosoles.

I walked 4-5 blocks in these but my feet didn't hurt at all.  Worth every peso I spent and I got this on on sale at Rustan's.

Maybe I should try this on the treadmill?

Anyway, I got where I wanted to be and claimed my prize from The Lead Character in just 15 minutes wearing this baby!

Contenencia de Su Apetito con Peliculas (Curbing Your Appetite With Movies)

Uh-huh Girl realizes that she has made a few pieces on movies with her blog.  Digging through the movie archives at the back of her mind, Uh-huh Girl has an epiphany.  She decides to put out this category, which names the 3 movies that had a profound effect on her appetite.

(Note:  Uh-huh Girl prefers not to eat while watching a movie.  She has staunch convictions that munching on your crunchies can impair your auditory abilities while watching, therefore making you ask the most annoying question while watching a movie:  "What did he/she say?")

Carnosaur (1993)

Plot:  A female mad scientist working for a food company manages to engineer dino DNA with chickens, giving them a comeback in the 20th century.  Said mad scientist also created a virus that infects females causing them to give birth to dinosaurs.  Mayhem spills across the movie as the chicken-dino eggs get transported out from the lab to nationwide consumers.

Gross factor:  Chicken-dino eggs  and crazy, live infected chickens are supplied to KFC!

Uh-huh Girl was a zit-faced, lumpy child of ten when she watched this movie from a rented Betamax tape.  She couldn't even finish the entire movie due to massive chicken genocide and mutated chicken-dinosaurs contaminating KFC.  (In retrospect, Carnosaur might have been Barney's evil sire.)  On that same day, Uh-huh Girl's parents took her and her sister out for dinner after hearing mass at Redemptorist Church.

Mother:  Where would you like to eat?

Uh-huh Girl:  Not KFC, anywhere without chicken.

Father:  What's wrong with chicken?

Uh-huh Girl:  I just watched Carnosaur this morning, the one you just rented.  It was gross, those were really sick chickens.

Sister:  Yeah, let's eat at Ding Qua Qua instead.  I love spring rolls and siomai as always.

(Ding Qua Qua used to be located in Mango Avenue, across the old Rustan's .  It's now a videoke place.)

As we were seated, a waiter stops by our table with his trolley of steamed food.

Waiter:  Would you like some siomai?  We have the plain, the quail egg, mushroom and empress rolls.

Dad:  We'll have the quail egg and the mushroom please.

Waiter:  How about some bacon?  Or the steamed chicken?

(Uh-huh Girl goes pale and can taste the bile in her throat.)

Mother:  No, no, not that one!  My daughter won't be eating chicken for a while.

Uh-huh Girl went chicken-free for a month.

Ravenous (1999)

Plot:  The movie goes with the premise of you get power from what you eat.  It exploits cannibalism, and man's greed to the extreme that man devours his fellows so he could become stronger.  (Come to think of it, this is just like The Highlander!  But the power transfer is by way ingestion rather than electrical conduction.)

Gross factor:  According to the movie, cannibalism is present in every culture and religion, even those postdating the pagans.  Christianity wasn't even spared.  "The body of Christ" and "holy communion" were implied in its literal sense.

Uh-huh girl was already in college when she saw this from a rental VCD.  She was attracted to the fine actors in the movie which includes Guy Pierce, David Arquette, and Robert Carlyle from the Full Monty.  Uh-huh Girl was called to eat lunch in the last 20 minutes of the film.  She decided to delay her lunch and see the movie till the end.  The movie had a good ending since good overcame evil, yada-yada.  But Uh-huh Girl's ending was tragic.  As soon as she sat down for lunch, she got served with beef stew...which had the same look as the cannibal stew served in the movie.  Uh-huh Girl went white-meat only for a month.

Hannibal (2001)

Plot:  Hannibal Lector decides to come out of hiatus and taunts Clarice Starling to catch him if she can.

Gross factor:  "Hello, Clarice..."  Hannibal's raspy voice sounds as if she is to be his next meal.  Hannibal performs lobotomy on Ray Liotta's conscious character, makes shabu-shabu with pieces of his brain and eats it.

Uh-huh Girl at present, is not fond of liver, nor is she interested in foie gras.  Why some people insist on eating pig's brains, she doesn't care to find out why.  

Comer bien! (Eat well!)  After all, you are what you eat.

Lull Me to Catatonia

After a day's work, Uh-huh Girl shifts to couch potato mode and turns on the telly.  Unknown to most, Uh-huh Girl's father instilled in his two daughters' minds that Tagalog television dramas were not worth watching since they all have the same formula.  Rich girl/boy falls in love with a poor boy/girl, the rich parents go berserk and do everything to break them apart.  Then the lovers elope, the girl gets pregnant but little do they know that the rich parents still keep a tab on them.  Once the girl gives birth, some switching was done at the hospital so two couples end up having the wrong baby.  By now, you already know how the story goes.  But in spite of their father's prejudice, he did cut his daughters some slack by allowing them to watch Anna Luna, Eat Bulaga and That's Entertainment.  This is why Uh-huh Girl watches television the way she does now.  Her fingers would automatically press the remote for  Sky Cable channels 24, 27, 29, 30, 31, 40 and 41.

Uh-huh Girl noticed that often times than not, the movies being shown are crappy B movies.  She is not in the mood for more Facebook after doing her rounds on Cafe World, Farmville, Fashion World, Mall World and Retail Therapy.  She is even too tired to sleep.  So she decides to be benevolent and try to see some good in these movies only to find out that these movies were an overkill to boredom that Uh-huh Girl couldn't even bury them in her subconscious.  While she was watching these movies, try as she might, her limbs were immobile.  Uh-huh Girl has been lulled to catatonia.

Considering that this movie was based on a novel by Scott Smith who was praised by Stephen King, Uh-huh Girl expected to be terrified and be compelled to sleep with the lights on.  Instead, Uh-huh Girl was left wondering about the history of the ruins, what kind of creature was in the ruins, and wished she could have understood what the Mayans were saying.  Maybe that would have cleared everything up. 

One of the merits of this film was when Laura Ramsey 's (The Covenant, She's the Man)  character self-mutilates to get the vines out.  There are a lot of pretty AND annoying actresses out there that Uh-huh Girl gets satisfaction from seeing their movie characters harmed or killed.   And Laura Ramsey is just one of them.  A fitting end it was for Jena Malone when it turns out that the vines got to her.  Uh-huh Girl blames the entire tragedy on Jena Malone's character.  It if weren't for her getting too close to the ruins and taking those stupid photos, then no harm would have befallen them.  Uh-huh Girl thinks that Jena Malone's character got what she deserved.

At one time, Uh-huh Girl found herself watching CinemaOne, a Tagalog channel.  She stumbled across a horror flick, a genre which she enjoys.  She also learned that the movie was Pa Siyam which starred Roderick Paulate and Aubrey Miles (another actress that Uh-huh Girl finds pretty and annoying).

The story revolves around siblings who came home to the province for their mother's death which they deemed as unusual.  The spookiness starts to unravel as they observe the 9 days of prayer for the dead, and the town's spiritista decides to lend them a hand.  She then proceeds to tell them that their mother suffered which led to her death.  Uh-huh Girl anticipated the climax.  It was the 9th day of prayer and their mother was to appear.  And she did in a ghastly form.  She then proceeds to narrate to her children how she was treated for the past few years.  The caretakers of their property who also served as her companions maltreated her, leading to the deterioration of her health and eventual death. When Roderick Paulate's character asks who killed her, she replies in a voice of fury that it's her children who killed her.  Had they not left her alone, had they visited her often, she wouldn't have suffered under the caretakers' hands.  So as a means of reparation, she proceeds to take Aubrey Miles (whose character was mentally challenged) to the grave with her.  Talk about making your children guilty.   Uh-huh Girl regrets having stayed up late for this movie.

Uh-huh Girl expects that Friday night movies on cable channels would be interesting.  After a few minutes of channel surfing, Uh-huh Girl stumbled across an Anne Hathaway movie.

The story unfolds when Anne Hathaway's character (a psychotherapist) is being tasked to help the survivors of a plane crash.  One of the survivors (Patrick Wilson) behaves differently from the group since he refuses to be depressed.  He even develops a romantic relationship with the psychotherapist.  Uh-huh Girl is bored, but wants to find out why this creepy guy (David Morse) keeps on stalking Anne Hathaway.  Soon, the survivors start to disappear one by one.  Still the creepy guy continues to stalk.  Anne Hathaway tries to find out the real cause of the crash, only to realize that she died in that plane crash, and so did the "survivors".  The cute Siberian Husky and the old man in pyjamas who appeared at the crash site when Patrick Wilson's character decided to take a look at the fuselage, were actually his dog and his grandfather who both died when he was a kid.  Uh-huh Girl realizes that this movie was a poor cross of the horror flick "Sundo" (sans the evil element) and "The Sixth Sense". 

Sometimes, Uh-huh Girl is a glutton for punishment.  

Light Bulb Moments (That Went Dim)

It was a Saturday, Valentine's Eve, that I went with my boyfriend to watch a movie in Ayala. The top two picks were"Valentine's Day" and "The Wolfman". Having heard mass prior to going to Ayala, we were not fortunate to make it to "Valentine's Day" and settled for "The Wolfman" instead.

So in we went to the cinema and carefully made our way to our seats. Then I noticed that somebody was sitting on my designated seat so I asked that girl what was her seat number. Anyway, she moved to where she was supposed to be seated and was twittering away with her bunch of friends.

And since she was right beside me, it was hard not to have heard her statements.

Girl1 (beside me): Sus, abi gyud nako na ang Twilight kay horror or kanang patay-patay ba. Naghuwat gyud ko until the end kung naay paakon. Wala man diay. Wala gyud ko kahibaw na love story ang Twilight. (Oh, I really thought that Twilight is a horror flick with lots of blood and gore.  I waited til the end for somebody to get bitten.  It turns out there was none.  I didn't know that Twilight is a love story.)

Me (just thinking): Haler! From what rock do you live under?!!! I haven't read the book but I sure know that it's a love story. Ok ra unta kung lalaki ka na wala ka kaila ug Twilight, duh! (It would have been ok if you're a guy and have no idea what Twilight is, duh!)

Girl2: Libro mana ang Twilight, series mana sila. Ang girl kay love interest niya ang vampire pero kato iyang kababata na werewolf kay ganahan pud niya. (Twilight is a book, a series in fact.  The girl's love interest is a vampire but her childhood friend who's a werewolf also likes her.)

Girl3: Lawas na kaayo si Taylor Lautner noh? (Taylor Lautner is so buffed, right?)

Then the trailer of Iron Man 2 was being shown on the screen.

 (See this link to see firsthand what the girl is talking about in the next line. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6Olpjl_IrE)

Girl1: Hala, naa diay na movie na "Iron 2 Man"? Karon pa lagi ko ana na movie... (Hey, there's a movie called "Iron 2 Man"?  It's the first time I've heard of it...)

 

Girl3: Iron Man 2 ba...  (It's Iron Man 2...)

Girl1: Ah, Iron Man 2 diay! (Oh, it's Iron Man 2 after all!)  Hehehe....

Me (thinking): I swear this girl lives under a rock!

Girl1: Kaning "The Wolfman" ba, werewolf-werewolf ni?  (This movie "The Wolfman", is this about werewolves?)

Me (thinking): "The Wolfman" ang title gani! Alangan man aswang or vampire ang mo guwa na bida aning salidaha! Angatch oi.  (The movie is titled "The Wolfman"!  It would have been titled otherwise if it turns out that a vampire is the lead character of this movie.  What a dummy.)

Good thing the movie started. I didn't want to hear any other thought she has on whatever!

Rrrraaaarrrr!!! Somebody please help this girl and others who are just like her (I hope there aren't a lot!). 

This was written in my Facebook Notes last March 29, 2010.