My first post in the first month of 2006, I was suppose to post much earlier but I was so busy procrastinating the days before classes resume tomorrow. Anyway, let's get this over it and release the things that have been in my mind a lot lately.

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Last month, me and my family went to Las Vegas after Christmas together with Auntie Be, Papa Toy, and Mommy Etta. We stayed at Excalibur, which was near MGM Grand where some relatives from Manila were staying. We went to watch La Reve, and I still found the time to watch the Vegas production of the irreverent Broadway musical Avenue Q by myself. Incidentally, both shows were based in one location, the brand new Wynn Las Vegas.


All I can say is, the $88 balcony ticket I paid for Avenue Q was worth it! Just imagine Sesame Street and South Park with a little pinch of Rent rolled into one (read the original NY Times review here). There are 5 words to describe the show, particularly its music: cute, catchy, funny, lively, and even touching. Not bad for a show that has the puppeteers center stage while performing their puppet characters (The Vegas production included original Broadway castmembers John Tartaglia and Rick Lyon, who also designed the puppets, so that was a plus). It deserves the 3 Tony Awards it won back in 2004 (including Best Musical over the heavy favorite Wicked). It's not for everyone though, especially if you're under 18 or just a very ultra-conservative person. But still, despite all the adult (or puppet) situations that includes puppet sex and laughing at other people's misery, the musical still offers assuring messages of hope & inspiration in making it and keeping up in the real world. This is exemplified by this lyric in the last song "For Now": "Life may be scary, but it's only temporary".

Favorite songs from the show: "It Sucks To Be Me", "Everyone's A Little Bit Racist", "The Internet Is For Porn", "There's A Fine, Fine Line", "The Money Song", "For Now"

I'm still listening to the soundtrack I downloaded online to this day. It's really that good!

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After Vegas, I stayed with my mom at the place she was working in Pasadena so that I can watch the Rose Parade. Unlike in Vegas, the weather in Pasadena (well, most of California at that time) was very unpleasant. Heavy rains and winds may not have hampered the parade, but I got soaked wet trying to take pictures of the floats and fixing my easily wind damaged umbrella. The day before the parade, I decided to go to the nearest Starbucks to try to connect the wi-fi of my sister's laptop that I borrowed (which sadly was a failure). As I was walking to and from Starbucks, I was stopped twice by Scientologists who asked if I wanted a stress test (really!) but I gladly refused. Also, I couldn't help but notice the fiesta-like atmosphere in the streets. People enduring the drizzling rain and the cold breeze while setting up their seats, parking their RVs, basically camping overnight. They made bonfires, some set up booths that sold food and souvenirs while the rest frequent the nearby shops. The children play while the adults chatter over the weather. Brings back memories of the many fiestas I saw when I was in Bicol, only it was a lot cleaner and slightly less crowded in Pasadena. I wonder when I will go back to the Philippines? I don't think I might find the time to go back this year, but hopefully the next year, or if not, the next year and so on. I miss my former classmates, my relatives, my teachers (though it still bothers me that my GS teachers didn't go to my graduation feast even though they mentioned that they were grateful I hadn't forgotten them all this times), but not those stupid sadistic childhood bullies for whom I'm cursed to remember their ugly faces and names! But it's getting slightly off-topic, so I will stop before it goes further on.

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2005 was also the year I was introduced to the wonder that is Hayao Miyazaki. And what better way to kick off the new year than with Turner Classic Movies' all-month marathon of Miyazaki's films (plus some other films from Studio Ghibli), some of which I haven't seen yet. I'm no otaku (the term used to describe an anime/manga geek) but the Miyazaki/Ghibli films are probably the best anime I have ever seen, the superb animation complemented by Joe Hisaishi's effective scores (he recently won a much-deserved best score award from the LA film critics for Howl's Moving Castle).

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I've also finished reading Box Office Poison and Tricked, two graphic novels by up-and-coming sequential art talent Alex Robinson. Both these novels offer Robert Altman-style portrayals of everyday life while being populated by a host of quirky characters we are meant love, hate, or both. Tricked is by his far his most ambitious and also his easiest to read (320 pages, compared to BOP's whopping 608 pages!), as while BOP focuses on slice-of-life vignettes between a circle of friends/enemies, the latter focus on a single plot: six people's lives converge on one event that will change their lives for better or for worse. As the novel counts down to that fateful event, we are introduced to the characters and get a glimpse of their lives: a washed-up rock star, his new assistant, a counterfeiter, a lovelorn waitress, a music fan losing his grip on reality, and a young teenager looking for her long lost father. Some of their paths cross early on, and we also see the things that would motivate them in making the decisions that would drive the action of the story towards the climax. Robinson's work (as well as Craig Thompson's) is a great example that not all comics are limited only to superheroes.

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As for my top movies of 2005? I'm still working on the final list, since I still have to check out some films before the Oscar nominations are announced.