A Sorta Pet Tag

I have been scouring the internet for dog and cat name tags and I found them pretty pricey. I understand though because they’re made from either brass or stainless piece of metal that’s why and the names are digitally engraved as well. The price is less of my concern actually because there are so many options online to choose from. The weight is what somehow bothers me most ‘cuz it’s made from melted metal. 

Our dog Yumi for sure is able to deal with that but not my cat Atari. He’s kind of easily bothered by anything dangling and trust me he is because the first time I gave him his collar, he went crazy over the jingle bell sound in his neck. I purposely wanted a bell in his collar so that everyone in the household would know whenever Atari is approaching. It is an impending disaster since Yumi and Atari are both residing indoors and they just won't co-exist peacefully. Every time Yumi yelps, Atari for sure is around. We just cannot resolve this anymore because Atari grew up without Yumi and vice versa. There are days when they don’t mind the presence of each other but most of the time they do. 

Ok, so going back, I thought of another DIY project for Yumi and Atari. Something feather light, something cute…hmmm..then I figured buttons would be the best match because it's round and I have those cute decorative ones handy, the ones I just bought from the craft store. I always make sure I have buttons for my DIY projects. 

Materials:

• Button (about the size of a .25c coin)
• Quick dry Natural/Clear nail polish
• Baker’s twine
• Candle
• Print out of your pet’s name
• Hair Dryer
• Scissor

Cut the print out and make sure it fits the size of the button perfectly. The front should bear your pet’s name (font size should be at least 8-10 depending on how lengthy the name is) whilst the back should have the owner’s address and phone number. Make sure to limit the characters. I reduced the font size to 8. 

I used a baker’s twine so I could attach it to the collar. I lit a candle and used the wax from it so that the twine is able to pass through the button’s hole. It will serve as a chain so that the button dangles from the collar. 

The last step is to apply clear nail polish on the button to sort of glue the cut outs to it then apply a second coat to give the cut outs a glossy finish and also to avoid the paper from getting wet/collect dust. You may use a hair dryer to dry the buttons out or just let it air dry under the heat of the sun. Allow few minutes and there goes yer DIY pet tag. 

DIY Nautical Balls

DIY nautical balls made from crochet yarns & jute twines :)

My sister and I recently collaborated on a project to accentuate our ever boring led bulb lights at home and I'm delighted to say they're finally finished yey! We called them our DIY hemp/jute nautical balls.

It took us less than a week to finish because there were idle times in between (house errands etcetera). We just bought fifteen yarns, five roll of each color: Black, Fuchsia Pink and Midnight Blue, a pack of balloons (about 10 pieces), cornstarch and six medium sized Elmer's glue. We also used 1 1/2 ball of jute twines for some so altogether we made six nautical balls. 

We used jute twines for the dining area since it suits the mood because we have a Narra dining set. The same goes in the living area downstairs. In the bedrooms, we decided to use colorful yarns to give the rooms this cozy and cool ambience. We're so happy with the outcome because they look classy and pricey considering we did not spend much on them. The challenges we came across with? The cornstarch/paste took a while to hold the yarns, twines together plus the nautical balls required a lot of sunshine for them to dry up fast so we have to take them where the sunbeam is. My advise? Don't rush the drying part because the ball will fall apart once you deflate the balloon and make sure to use a cotton yarn. Allow 2-3 days only if it's really sunny and humid where you are but if it's cold like where I live, 3-5 days roughly. 

For some of the balls we made, they weren't totally dry when we popped the balloon out because we were tricked by how dry they appeared from the outside. To remedy the situation we still went ahead and install them and just let them dry out with the help of the heat coming from the bulb so long as they don't fall apart. If they still do, no choice but inflate a new balloon inside (the falling apart) nautical ball to keep it round. Jute twines by the way hold better together because it's made from trees so they look like intertwined twigs once finished. 

Designing your house shouldn't be costly, all it takes is a little creativity and resourcefulness. 

Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)

Ok, I know this is so long overdue. I only watched the movie recently because I never had the time when it hit the theatres last year since I was too caught up with work and all. 

My sister rented the movie in iTunes and it cost roughly P240. The one rented from iTunes by the way blurred Anastasia and Christian’s genitals but all the rest of their body parts were exposed whilst the UNCUT/UNRATED version (downloaded from peer to peer sites) did not. 

Fifty Shades of Grey (2015)

(Romance/Drama)

Casts:

• Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) - dorky college girl, fell in love with Christian; become Christian’s Submissive
• Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) - young Billionaire who owns Grey House
• Kate ( Eloise Mumford) - Anastasia’s room mate, closest friend
• Jose Rodriguez (Victor Rasuk) - one of Anastasia’s friends

I read couple of E.L. James’ Fifty Shades book but I still prefer his first book Fifty Shades of Grey because it  was unique from other erotic books published that time. If J.k Rowling became really famous because of Harry Potter, Stephanie Meyer for her Twilight Sequels, then E.L. James for his erotic book Fifty Shades of Grey. 

Anastasia Steele, a college girl who lives in her friend’s apartment Kate, was asked by the later to proxy her for an interview with one of the youngest billionaires around, Christian Grey. Kate is sick so she asked Anastasia to do the interview on her behalf, it’s for the University paper. 

During the interview, Christian seemed to have fascination with Anastasia simply because she’s smart and he might’ve seen something in her that’s worth following I guess no matter how Anastasia felt she’s no way near Christian’s league. Anastasia seemed intrigued and sexually attracted to Christian as well. Christian kind of stalked Anastasia at her workplace, the hardware store after he just surprisingly turned up. 

Christian after his photoshoot with Jose (Anastasia’s guy friend) for the University Paper, invited Anastasia for coffee. Afterwards Christian left her and told her she’s not for him. Ana was puzzled. During her night out with Jose and Kate, drunk Ana called Christian, Christian picked her up from the club. Ana  passed out so Christian took her to The Heathman Hotel where he’s checked in. Christian then started talking about a contract offer to Ana, that he won’t touch her until she agrees to the contract. 

Christian took Ana to his pad and formally gave the contract to her. He introduced her to terminologies such as Dominant and Submissive. Christian walked her to his Red Room of Pain where he keeps his ‘toys.’ Christian learned that Ana was a virgin and then one thing led to another. Ana eventually agreed and signed the contract later on. Christian is eventually a sadist, he felt pleasure in hurting women, the only difference is he sets his rules and make sure his Submissive is healthy and agrees to pain within their threshold, and, he’s an effin generous Dominant, he gave Ana her very own Macbook, her own apartment and of course, a sports car. In the book Christian gave Ana a sports car because he loves speed and finds Ana’s car which is a beetle so slow. 

Ana found their ‘relationship’ complicated because she seeks for an ideal one then asked Christian to show her how ‘extreme’ could he get when it comes to hitting women. Ana reached her final straw and left Christian. 

I know the ending is quite hanging but that’s just the way it is because the second book concludes what happens next. The next book by the way is Fifty Shades Darker, it has turned a little normal than the first and I heard a sequel is underway and will be shown on 2017. 

What's my take on the movie? Well, it was done with class of course. They did not overdo the nude scenes to the point of pornographic. I love the official soundtrack, they were carefully picked and very apt for the movie. The OST can make or break a movie, it is very vital, especially in scenes without any spoken word. I recommend this movie to the curious readers of Fifty Shades. I think they’ve done the book some justice and the scriptwriter did not miss out on the book’s  substantial parts.

Skin it

Scouring the web for really cool Blogger skins require one to have patience, ample of it actually because it’s not easy twitching the look of your blog. Blogger requires pretty advance skills when it comes to customizing your blog, knowledge with HTML codes is a plus. I have been with Blogger for eight years (back when they were still called Blogspot) so, I pretty much already learned these stuff over time. I am a self taught blog design twitcher. I normally download free Blogger templates and customize them. Sometimes, I’ll just suit myself with Blogger’s very own templates and just change the background with some image I prefer. I find it enjoyable because I am quite nerdy and I like changing things every now and then. 

Few days ago, I thought of migrating my blogs to WordPress by exporting them (hoping WordPress offer better blog skins) using a .xml file from Blogger. I found WordPress simple and not as enjoyable customizing compared to Blogger because I was ticked off that I needed to sign up with Gravatar so I get to have an avatar for my profile. Sucks right? Unlike with Blogger, it’s automatic because it’s owned by Google so you can just add your Google Plus account widget to your blog (it’s optional) and you’re good to go. WordPress doesn’t have that so I ended up deleting my account instead. 

Later on I’m back to scouring the web again for free Blogger templates instead and thank God i stumbled upon this awesome website by Blogger template designer named Itkupilli. 

His/her designs (I don’t know the artist’s gender) are way cooler than other Blogger templates around because they're ‘baroque' inspired which is unique in my opinion since I am fascinated by anything and everything out of the ordinary. 

Moving on, I went gaga over almost all of Itkupilli’s blogger themes. Sadly, I only needed to pick one so here it is. If you may have noticed (if you did it means you are one of my avid readers haha!) the total change in my blog's interface, it’s because I completely changed my blog’s theme except for Blogger’s default columns which I used as my base/framework whilst the header and background I got from Itkupilli’s site. They’re freebies so don’t worry about copyright and stuff, there’s even a small watermark if you may have noticed. Just don’t claim that it’s yours nor smudge the watermark because that’s a different story. 

As a way of saying thank you btw, I added his/her badge here in my blog. This blog skin also came with its very own header and background image which is also changeable like what I did, I used a different background instead of what it came with since I thought a darker background suits my blog. 

So, don't be scared to try stuff with your own blog, you can anyways preview it before you make any final changes. It's quite enjoyable actually but if it's not your interest then don't worry about just go download a ready made .xml blogger theme, no sweat. 

How to upload a ready made .xml blogger theme? Go to your Blogger dashboard and once logged in just click on the small notepad icon (upper right hand), to your left click on Template > Back up/restore (upper right hand corner) > Choose File (upload the .xml file you downloaded) and you're done. 

For advanced users: Go to your Blogger dashboard and once logged in just click on the small notepad icon (upper right hand corner), to your left click on Template > Customize > then you'll see your Blogger Template Designer screen, underneath is the live preview. You can twitch your blog from there like change your blog's font, background image etc. This is how I twitched my blog as well.

For your blog header, once you download the header file, you may use any photo editing application (I used PhotoScapeX), add text which is simply your blog's name. I suggest you change the size to 1000x300 pixels as this is the default size of Blogger headers. How to upload your edited Header: Go to your Blogger dashboard and once logged in just click on the small notepad icon (upper right hand) > Go to Layout > Click on Header (underneath NavBar) > a window will open > Pick the Header image you made from your computer > Select "Have description placed after the image" > Hit Save. Here's a link you can try if you want your Header in the centered.

Hope these easy steps help. You'll be fascinated and delighted to see your own work afterwards. Happy customizing folks ;) 

Thai Horror Flicks Galore

Like I always say, I love Asian horror movies most especially the Thai ones because they’re eccentric. It’s been a long while since I last downloaded horror movies so as soon as we got our postpaid internet service installed I researched for tons of Asian horror flicks right away, I must have missed a lot and yes I did eventually. 

photo courtesy of google images

Laddaland (2011)

Characters:

• Thee - Head of the family
• Parn - Thee’s wife
• Nan - stubborn teenage daughter of Thee and Parn
• Nat - the youngest son of Thee and Parn

The movie started with Thee decorating their new home in Chiang Mai inside this village called Laddaland. The house was a mortgage since Thee’s family originally moved from Bangkok. His wife and two kids, Nan and Nat lived and grew up at their grandmother’s house (Parn’s mother) since Thee, the Dad does not have the means to financially sustain his family in the beginning. Thee landed a job at this networking company thus was able to afford a mortgage. Nan, their teenage daughter wasn’t happy with the move to Chiang Mai since she and Nat grew up with their well off grandmother in Bangkok. She was stubborn and rebellious towards Thee. 

Strange things started happening in Laddaland since their move. A neighbor was brutally murdered, face disfigured and body kept in a fridge. One day, Nan and friends barged in at the said neighbor’s house just for kicks. Nan saw a ghost inside the house but when he told his father, Thee, he did not believe her thus scolded her for coming home late. The gap between Nan and Thee grew deeper so Parn decided to send Nan to her friend’s house instead of sending her to her grandma’s so as not to make the matter worse. 

Things has gotten out of hand when their next door neighbor murdered his family and Nan saw their ghost. Nan was hysterical afterwards so Parn told Thee if he can’t leave their house they will. Whilst Parn is at the hospital, Thee and Nat were left at home. Nat went out of the house for some reason and went to their next door neighbor’s house (the ones who were murdered). Thee went after Nat and all hell broke loose, Thee saw all the ghosts of murdered victims and murderer thought he could kill the undead fired a shot at the closet where Nat was hiding. Nat was shot, Parn came in on time, Thee thought he killed his own son shot himself.

Parn, after Thee’s death left Laddaland with her kids, Nan and Nat. She explained that Thee wasn’t a bad father to them. Parn told Nan that she got pregnant with her whilst in Junior College, thought of having her aborted but Thee stood up and asked for her hand in marriage no matter how her mother disapproves him. 

The End.

It was a lengthy movie but it there was never any dull moment watching it as it was suspense filled and the turn of events were quite unexpected. It’s still a must watch. Hey I did not include all the details about the movie so go figure what happened to the rest of the story.

One thing though, I just don't know what's with the movie poster. I t looks more like a 'theme park' poster to me than a horror movie poster. What the???

Last Summer (2013)

(Rue Doo Ron Nan Chan Tai)

This movie is kinda like divided into three Chapters. It’s like a sneak peek at some of the major characters’ lives, their side of the story sort of. It was a little lengthy as well but I assure you the movie’s entirety is  worth watching. Let me start with the first story.

Characters:

• Singa - Joy’s boyfriend
• Joy - a famous teenage celebrity, Meen’s friend
• Meen - Joy’s best friend, got a crush on Singa
• Garn - Singa’s friend
• Ting - Joy’s brother

photo courtesy of google images

Singa saw Joy’s status on Facebook that reads ‘I want to die’ so he sent her a message and asked if she wants to go to the beach with him hoping to cheer her up. Joy tagged her friend Meen along whilst Singa, his friend Garn. They headed off to Singa’s beach house and stole his Dad’s car. 

The group had a drink and Joy passed out. Singa drugged Joy so he could take advantage of her whilst she’s unconscious. Suddenly, Joy started having seizures which scared Singa, Garn and Meen to their wits. Meen said Joy is having an allergic reaction towards something and later on learned that Singa drugged Joy. Meen was left with Joy and she tried to rummage Joy’s bag for medicine. When Singa and Garn came back, Meen said Joy’s dead. Singa panicked and instead of reporting the incident to the police, decided to conceal Joys body instead thinking what might have become since Joy is a famous celebrity. Meen, on the other hand, was prevented by Singa and Garn to report to the authorities, no matter how scared and bothered by her conscience.

Singa put Joy’s body inside a suitcase, threw it on a cliff, no good so he just decided to bury her. Singa now being haunted by Joy’s vengeful ghost turned paranoid and accidentally killed his friend Garn. Meen saw Singa combusting when she came back with the police force to tell them where Joy’s body is.

End of Singa’s story. This time around the limelight focused on Meen’s story, being Joys best friend and schoolmate. 

Meen thinks Joy is her biggest competitor, Joy never thought of Meen that way though since she considers her, her best friend. I was surprised why Joy haunted Meen but later on it was divulged in the movie that Meen technically killed Joy. Meen and Joy are competing for some sort of a scholarship. Joy told Meen, even if she gets picked, she will concede and give away to Meen. Let’s rewind back to the beach house,  whilst Joy is having a seizure, Meen accidentally read Joy’s messages and found that Joy bagged the scholarship. Meen, consumed by jealously, purposely left Joy to die, she ceased looking for Joy's medicine so she gets the scholarship. Joy got the revenge that she wanted in the end because Meen fell off the building during the awarding ceremony. 

Ting, Joy’s brother saw the incident and this time around the story focused on Ting’s little life story. He thought that their mother care less about him and loves Joy more. Joy on the other hand thought that their mom is too hard on her. One day whilst Joy is talking to Singa over video messaging, Tinga recorded a video of Joy stripping for Singa. This infuriated their mom thus refused to talk to Joy since. Joy haunted Ting as well until their mother found that Ting made the video to smear his sister’s reputation. Ting lived though since it appeared that Joy might’ve forgiven her brother after all.

Last but not least, Joy’s story. 

I found out that Meen likes Singa. Even if Singa and Joy are already together, Joy did not tell Meen so her feelings won’t get hurt. Joy has a good heart and she’s willing to make way for Meen’s dreams to come through even if sacrificing her own. I think she eventually turned into a hungry ghost because she felt neglected even before her death thus explains why she was a vengeful spirit. 

Again, Last Summer is a lengthy flick but what the heck I’ll watch it again I guess because the storyline wasn’t so bad after all.

Last but not least, another movie directed by the same person who gave us Laddaland, The Swimmers.

photo courtesy of google images

The Swimmers (2014)

(Fak Wai Nai Kai Ther)

Characters:

• Perth - Tan’s friend
• Tan - Perth’s friend and biggest competition
• Ice - Tan’s girlfriend

The movie opened morbidly with Ice jumping off the pool, obviously it’s a case of suicide but it wasn’t and it was revealed later on what caused her mysterious demise.

Perth and Tan are practising for the University Swimming competition. Tan introduced Ice, his girlfriend to his best buddy Perth. The later is already attracted to Ice the first time they were introduced and by the look of it it was mutual. 

Tan, I think has better chance in the swimming competition which is why he’s often busy thus seldom had a time for Ice. Tan promised to teach Ice how to swim but in his frequent absence Perth took advantage and offered to teach Ice how to swim instead.

Ice broke up with Tan over Perth. It was a love triangle in short. Perth got Ice pregnant and being a total prick that he was refused to shoulder his responsibility. It was good though that he declined Ice’s plan of abortion, what’s not good was he abandoned Ice alone in the middle of things. Then, news circulated, Ice committed suicide by jumping off an empty pool. geez. 

Tan was devastated of course not just because of Ice’s suicide, he also knew that she was pregnant but was left behind by whoever is the father of the child. Now Tan’s on a hunt to find the guy responsible for her pregnancy. 

Perth, now being totally consumed by guilt started feeling he’s being haunted by Ice’s ghost (which he is actually), turned totally paranoid especially after Tan mentioned that he’s hunting the jerk who got Ice pregnant. Perth thought he’s carrying his and Ice’s child because his tummy is getting bigger and he often feel something move. 

Tan was able to login to Ice’s Facebook account and found that Perth was the culprit but Perth was able to delete their conversation after he logged on to Ice’s laptop. Yes, Perth sneaked into Ice’s house and on his way out found Ice’s mom hanging from the doorway, she killed herself as well. I don’t know why they resort to suicide all the time?? 

Anyways,  moving on, Perth was found to have Hepa B thus explains his bulging tummy. Tan kidnapped Perth from the hospital to kill him by drowning. Unfortunately, Perth is just so effin invincible no matter how weak he was, killed Tan by suffocating him underwater. In the end, Perth survived, won first place in the swimming competition. However, Ice seemed will be haunting him for good.

OK, I found out before the movie finished that, Ice DID NOT commit suicide, she accidentally hit her head on a metal object whilst having an argument with Perth which caused her untimely death. She was breaking up with Perth when the accident happened and told him that he will go back to Tan. Perth, scared, decided to make Ice’s death appear as suicide. It was also revealed that Ice's abortion money came from Tan and that she also had a miscarriage. Perth bury the fetus in the bushes. 

I don’t know why Thai horror movies has turned pretty lengthy nowadays compared before. Nevertheless, the thrilling twists and enigma with their horror movies has gotten better overtime. 

Jute it!

here she is...

Finally finished with my sister and I's DIY hemp nautical ball project for our fluorescent bulb light in the bedroom. It wasn't as easy as I thought because working on really sticky paste (an amalgamation of cornstarch and Elmer's glue) was quite a work since it dries up pretty fast in the process. 

Nevertheless, we were both happy with the outcome especially when we switched on the light, the jute ball gave our room that cozy earthy ambiance. 

Materials

It wasn't as costly 'cuz we only used 1 small bag of cornstarch, 1 big Elmer's glue, a 100 meter ball of jute twine (cost P80-100 online or maybe cheaper somewhere else), a balloon which will give it that round shape. 

How to:

Measure the neck of the bulb first if you won't be using a pendant light (the one the hangs from the ceiling), draw a small circle on top about the size of a bottle cap then a little bigger circle at the bottom about the size of your arm or bigger if you wish so because you will have to detach the light bulb first then put it back on along with your finished hemp nautical ball afterwards. If you don't wanna use cornstarch paste that's fine, you can just use tons of Elmer's glue and add some water it'll stick the same if not better. There's no rule in wrapping the ball around as long as you got the whole balloon blanketed with jute twines then you're all set. Let it dry for 24-48 hours. I let it sit for one day but it wasn't as dry so I would recommend 2 days would be the best drying timeframe, It looks much more sturdy the longer you dry it. 

My other sissy eventually loved it and thought it's classy so she asked if we could work on four more of these nautical balls for the rest of the house. I said why not? It's a lot of work but if it'll make the house look so much better then why not. Nothing is exhausting when you do what you like doing anyways.

Good Old Horror Movies

I love horror movies especially the Asian horror ones because they’re unique. As years went by local horror movies has turned little less scary than the old ones so I just would often download Thailand, Korean, Japanese horror flicks because I find them a lot scary, demented, weirder than ours. I guess because they still infuse their cultural beliefs about paranormal to their horror movies nowadays despite the prevalence of digital effects comparable to that of Hollywood horror movies. Their use of digital effects are pretty much similar to ours but there’s something inexplicable with the way they present their horror movies. What happened to the good old Filipino horror flicks? 

With this in mind, let me go back to one of the best Filipino horror movies I’ve seen in my lifetime, ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll II.’ 

I never thought my sister will still find a copy online considering it was really old. It was shown 25 years ago as part of the Metro Manila Film Festival, a local movie festival which is only held every Christmas. I was still a kid back then and for some reason I’ve already been fascinated with horror movies.

Shake, Rattle and Roll II (1990)

The movie was divided into three parts: 

1. Shake - “Multo” (horror, drama)
2. Rattle - “Kulam” (horror, comedy)
3. Roll - “Aswang” (horror, suspense)

“Multo” (Ghost)

Casts:

• Janice De Belen ,Eric Quizon - husband and wife
• Eddie Gutierrez - psycho
• Isabel Granada - victim
• Caridad Sanchez - the haunted house’s caretaker

I’m sorry I did not catch their character names so I’ll just use their celebrity names instead. 

Newlywed couple Janice and Eric headed off to Baguio for their honeymoon. Caridad Sanchez, the caretaker of the old house the couple was invited in, warned Janice about the dangers of staying overnight at that house but did not expound further why. 

During their first night, Janice had a nightmare about a Man (Eddie Gutierrez) with a scared as hell teenage girl (Isabel Granada). Isabel was forcibly dragged towards the Doctor’s chair, the next gruesome scene appeared to be an abortion totally gone wrong as there was a lot of blood. Eddie panicked, stabbed Isabel to death as if a demon possessed him. Then she woke up from her nightmare. Janice spoke to Caridad about her nightmare and again she was warned to go to a different hotel instead before something bad happens because nobody stays long on that house.

Eric was left alone in the house and as if on a trance found what seems to be Eddie’s old office, saw Eddie's ring, wore it and there you go he was possessed by his vengeful/demented spirit. Janice suddenly noticed Eric’s strange behaviour and almost got killed by the now possessed Eric. On the other hand, Eric was able to come back to his senses and told Janice to cut off his ring finger because he could no longer take Eddie’s ring off. Janice did cut his ring finger (bloody hell right?) and Eddie left Eric’s body.

“Kulam” (Voodoo)

Casts:

• Daisy Romualdez - the crazy Doctor who performs voodoo.
• Joey Marquez - the lady charmer
• Carmina Villaroel - who’s life was saved by Joey from rapists.
• Sylvia Sanchez - the horny nurse

Joey was confined at the hospital for broken bones after rescuing Carmina from a group of rapists. Carmina paid Joey a visit to thank him for saving her life but left sooner since it was already late and she needs to go home. 

Daisy, the middle aged Doctor, on the other hand, smitten by Joey’s playboy antics, thought he’s really into her, caught Joey and another nurse (Sylvia Sanchez) making out inside Joey’s hospital room. Daisy dragged Sylvia out of Joey’s room and threatened they will pay for what they did.

Daisy then turned Joey’s hospital room into some sort of a witch's den and whilst halfway to completing her black magic ritual towards this voodoo doll (with Joey's hair attached to it) someone paged her due to an emergency. Carmina bumped into the crazy Doctor prior to that and got her hair brush switched with the later.  On her way home, after noticing that her hair brush got switched, she immediately hurried back to the hospital to retrieve it found that Joey is now being hostage by Daisy (except she was out). Carmina rescued Joey by dragging him out of his room using a skateboard lol. Daisy found out about it eventually. 

Sylvia, the nurse, told the two that the Doctor indeed performs voodoo towards people she detest, thought of switching the voodoo doll’s hair into Daisy’s hair by tricking her that the entire Purefoods basketball team is at the hospital (say what?). Crazy things happened afterwards: the corpses at the morgue turned into zombies, the babies into ’tiyanak’ (baby monsters i should say). 

In the end, Carmina, Joey and Sylvia emerged victorious because they switched the voodoo doll’s hair to Daisy’s so she turned herself instead into a bullfrog.

“Aswang” (Shape shifting demon/monster)

Casts:

• Richard Gomez -the tricycle driver
• Manilyn Reynes 
• Ana Roces 
• Anjo Yllana
• Aljohn Jimenez
• Vangie Labalan
• Rex Cortez

Manilyn was invited by her friend (Ana Roces) to her province, in Siquijor (a place known to be inhabited by Aswangs) for a vacation.  Richard, the trike driver drove her to Ana’s barrio, tried to warn her outright to leave because it is dangerous for her to stay there. Manilyn, however, failed to catch what he was saying. 

Ana, on purpose took Manilyn to their town to become their ‘sacrifice’ which means she’ll die and get eaten by her Aswang folks. Manilyn saw Richard caged like an animal one night, he warned her again that they will kill her if she failed to escape because she went to a town full of Aswang. Ana's mother, Vangie, refuted what Richard said and even claimed that he was a murderer who killed his wife. Scared as hell, Manilyn though started having doubts about Ana. That night, she switched the tea that she’s drinking with that of Ana’s and found that they slipped a sleeping drug which made Ana fall asleep. Manilyn covered her body with blanket, pretended she was Ana and was shocked when Rex hit Ana’s head (whilst asleep) with something hard which instantly killed her. 

Manilyn tried to escape the town filled with savage monsters,  almost failed hadn’t for Aljohn who eventually rescued her. The two got away however, Anjo, Aljohn’s friend, was eaten by the Aswangs. After all the close calls, Aljohn killed the strongest one amongst all the Aswangs with a cross pendant and a slingshot.

For me, the last story though was the scariest of them all. I mean, what would you do if you were invited by your friend to come visit her province, not knowing she is an Aswang furthermore lives in a place inhabited by her kind? The thought of it makes me flinch. 

This flick still weirds me out/scares me for some reason lol. I can say it’s still way better compared to local horror movies nowadays considering they do not have digital effects yet back then. The raw-ness of the movie made it so much more convincing. 

Anyways, why can’t we bring back urban legends to modern day local horror flicks? Just saying. Our culture is so rich with those and I miss them. 

Scam Artists, Beware

Let me just share a story with you guys, my dear readers or whoever you are who stumbled upon my blog whilst googling/scouring the world wide web hoping to find stories about scammers targeting property owners and buyers.

My family owns quite a few properties for sale which are all being advertised online since the internet has the biggest clout when it comes to prospect buyers because it is worldwide. Since we’re now living in the age of cyberspace, even scouting or buying a property is as easy as 1 2 3 so long as you can afford it. On the other hand, the internet has become an avenue for scammers and unscrupulous individuals trying to find easy money through luring or should I say fooling people around. 

My Dad, a senior citizen, came across this group of people or should I say ‘scammers’ who nearly conned him to shell out P300,000.00. My Dad was contacted by this alleged buyer of one of our house claiming they’re really interested and would like to see the house’s entirety. At first, they’re interested with the farm property that my family is selling, later on they said they would like to see the house inside the village as well because their so called ‘boss’ might be also interested. 

They contacted my Dad before Christmas. So, my Dad scheduled the viewing without hesitations (which was after New Years). When the alleged buyer paid our house a visit, my elder sister made sure our Dad won’t be alone for security reasons. I mean allowing a stranger to your home especially in Manila is something you always have to be careful of even if they are potential buyers. Better be safe than sorry because once they’re inside your house they can do whatever unimaginable. My sister said the alleged buyer was a Japanese national together with a middle aged woman let’s hide her under the name ‘Josie' plus another man. They gave their names but who cares as they're fictitious anyways. 

Whilst scouring the house, Josie even asked my niece who was present during the visit nosy questions such as where she goes to school etcetera. My niece described that they wore all this flashy jewelries or bling bling and they looked good enough to be legit. The suspicions set in when they started talking about this product called Orbit Protein which they will be needing for their Tuna products. 

Farm Property Story-Another buyer contacted my Dad about a week after. This time around they’re interested in our Farm property and what a coincidence (or should I say what on earth) they happened to be suppliers of Orbit Protein which the house buyer is in need of for their Tuna products. Sounds fishy right?

This is the Orbit Protein product that the 'scammers'
 are using to con their prospect victims. Thank you Irene
for sharing them.

Going back to our house for sale property, the Japanese buyer said it’s good riddance that our other potential Farm buyer supplies Orbit Protein because according to Japanese guy,  Farm buyer offered to supply them Orbit Protein at a discounted price. 

This is when Farm buyer added my Dad to their equation. For some odd reason, he said my Dad would be the middleman/intermediary between Japanese guy house buyer and Farm buyer. That, according to Farm buyer, my Dad would earn up to P125,000.00 commission for doing nothing. A lot of loop holes right? I mean, wow! How can you earn such amount of money for doing nothing? You won’t win in the lottery without playing, what are you just lucky? Then all the bluff afterwards. 

Japanese buyer mind you did not negotiate for our house’s selling price at all. They even set the date for the payment and that they will be bringing their lawyer and stuff in a few days to settle everything. One fishy thing was when Josie set the payment date to be done on a Sunday and even explained why without my sister asking for her explanation. We’re not new to this stuff since one of our properties got sold recently and let me just say that a legit buyer first and foremost negotiates, agrees to close the deal (sign deed of sale etc.) during weekdays as this is when a lawyer is usually available, office hours basically for the paper works, and most importantly they do not squish selling a product to the property owner which is SO out of context.

Continuing on, my elder sister one day was surprised to know that our Farm buyer is talking to our Dad whilst she instructed specifically to transact with her first before they talk straight to our Dad again for safety reasons. My sister is a law grad so she’s really suspicious since she knows about legal stuff etc. The Farm buyer, a Tsinoy along with a Pinoy guy, seemed to have already inoculated our dad that he’s gonna get a commission if he sold boxes of Orbit Protein to our House buyer. In the middle of their agenda, the Chinese guy (who posed as the Farm’s buyer) received a phone call from someone and eventually has gotten into a compromise with his dealer and is short with cash. Later on wants to borrow P500,000.00 from my dad since he does not have that amount handy and for all the wrong reasons my Dad even bargained for P300,000.00 as if he was hypnotised or something (heard of budol-budol?).

My sister sensed something's wrong since my Dad isn’t responding via sms anymore so she immediately drove off to our house and found that my Dad seemed to have given in to those scammers  already and was on the verge of shelling out cash. That’s when my sister interjected and with all her resolve disagreed to my Dad’s decision even if they totally argued. She said she was adamant and scared at the same time because if these guys got a gun, they could just shoot both of them point blank since she already knew their ploy. My sister said she told those guys that our Dad is never gonna be involved with whatever money issues Mr. buyer and his dealer have and we’re selling our property because we need cash then asked those men to leave and bring their boxes of Orbit Protein with them. The Chinese guy seemed very disappointed and tensed according to my sister. They left our house ASAP when they saw my sister texting (she did actually because she’s been texting all of the family members JUST in case something happens we’re all aware what’s going on). I’m here up north so my other sissy and I constantly texted our Dad to NEVER shell out any money nor provide a copy of his ID as they might use it in the future against him (identity theft) by scamming others as well (I read a news online). Our eldest sister along with her husband also immediately drove off to our house (where my sister and Dad is) with her heart throbbing out of her chest totally fearing for my sister and Dad’s life. The scammers unfortunately already left when she and her husband arrived but the good thing was my Dad and sister were safe.

My brother-in-law called his friend who works at this agency to learn more about Orbit Protein, he confirmed it was indeed a scam. 

I mean, anything could go wrong in a situation like this right? Some villains, once caught in the act immediately kill their victims so they won’t be reported. What if they have a silencer gun? Once you let strangers in, you invited danger yourself. My departed Mom still looks after us, the whole family no matter what and might’ve sent my sister to our Dad’s rescue for a possible catastrophe to happen. Two things; it’s either these people rob him and get his money OR get his money and leave him somewhere lifeless. I’m not being pessimistic, I may have an overactive imagination because I am realistic. 

So, just a little piece of advise, if you happen to be selling any property of yours may it be a house, a car, a condo unit, NEVER shell out any money because YOU ARE THE ONE SELLING for heaven's sake. You should be getting paid and not the one empty handed. If your buyer is asking to borrow money from you, they just ruined their credibility, never give a single penny. Be careful ALWAYS. Protect your safety at all times. Take caution because there’s a lot of bad out there. Always pray. It’s the best ammunition.

Upcycle

My jute twines and burlap  arrived  few days ago and they kept me busy for days. I recast my message board again because I wasn’t happy with how the chalkboard paper sagged since I did not use any adhesive to hold it together with my recycled wood board. I now hang it vertically instead of horizontal because there’s this sort of balance looking at it that way and the rest of the materials were the same. 

It was more of an upcycle actually because I feel like the quality is better now compared to the previous one I made. I added some real clothespin and printed out labels I found online, the worldwide world is where I often orbit.

Let me also share that our internet service is finally installed thank God! So far so good, I’m feeling like Marvin the Martian, celestial with better access to the world because of our new DSL service yey! Cheers to that.

My next project is my sissy and I’s bedroom lamp. I’m planning to turn it into a nautical decor, a DIY hemp/jute string pendant lamp. They sell it for a really hefty price at the mall yet it's so easy peasy to make. I guess majority of the cost goes to labor plus the materials, you have to go to places where they specially sell them. Anything eco-friendly is supposedly cheap but they’re not actually such as those bags made from jute sack, wood products etc. they’re quite pricey really. 

Movierama 2016

I pretty much spent my holidays watching tons of downloaded movies. I miss cable TV since we do not have one yet because our house is new and we’re still in the process of getting utility services installed. I just love movie marathons, I learn a lot from watching movies aside from it keeps me entertained.

Let me start with the John Green ones since I read some of his novels.

Paper Towns (2015)

Main Characters:

• Quentin "Q" Jacobsen (Nat Wolff)
• Margo Roth Spiegelman (Cara Delevingne)
• Marcus "Radar” Lincoln (Justice Smith) - one of Q’s best friends
• Ben Starling (Austin Abrams) - another one of Q’s closest friends 
• Lacey Pemberton (Halston Sage) - Margo’s friend
• Angela (Jaz Sinclair) - Radar’s girlfriend

Margo moved to Q’s neighbourhood when they were still kids and the two became best of friends all throughout their childhood lives. Things changed when they became teenagers, Margo started ignoring Q and hooked up with a guy named Jase. Margo turned different as well, rebellious, non-conformist and became friends with the meanies. Amidst Margo’s indifference towards him, his secret admiration for her remained.

One night whilst Q is fast asleep Margo climbed up his bedroom window to ask if she could borrow his car. Never did Q expect that Margo will ever speak to him again since they became teens, so, as if spellbound by Margo he agreed to go with her. Q realised that Margo is up to 'get even' against her ex-boyfriend Jase for sleeping with her friend Becca by taking a picture of Jase whilst running naked, covered Lacy’s (one of her friends as well) car with cling wrap, spray painted the letter ‘M’ and left a note that their friendship is over. Q expected a start of something different after their adventure together. Margo mentioned the word ‘Paper Towns’ during one of their conversations as well and she said things would change between her and Q etc. but she was gone the next day and was never seen afterwards. Rumours kept circulating about Margo's whereabouts since her disappearance.

Q is aware Margo is fond of leaving clues every time she’s off to somewhere except for clues because you have to decipher it yourself. He later on found that Margo might be in a town called Agloe, NY which is a paper town, a fictional town that mapmakers use as a copyright trap.

Q’s friends Radar and Ben persuaded him to go after/find Margo no matter how pressed for time they were (due to the prom) because he loves her. Radar tagged his girlfriend Angela along, Lacey also joined them, so she could tell Margo how wrong she was since she was puzzled why Margo ended their friendship.

The gang was on the road for 20+ hours. Q did not find Margo at this farm house yet with all his gumption decided to stay and still look for her. He told his friends to go home since they should be back on time for the prom. Q whilst at the souvenir shop saw Margo walked by and ran after her. She was surprised to see Q in Agloe, they talked and he then realised that Margo will be Margo, the free spirited, non-conformist girl who thinks that the world is her comfort zone. Q thanked Margo and claimed that their adventure that night was one the best times of his life before he heads off to college. Q took the bus home and went back to his little family, his friends Radar and Ben. And then they graduated, Radar gave Q and Ben each one of his parents’ collection, a black santa claus little figurine.

It was a nice flick about friendship, love and life. That, we should enjoy life for as much as we could because there are chapters in life you can never go back to. Life is not just for living, add a little adventure to it. I personally would love to go somewhere far on a road trip, just for kicks. 

On the other hand, I kind of like Margo’s character, she’s bohemian, free spirited girl who’s not afraid to explore and be her. She’s not scared to face the unknown. I hope the world produces more of her kind, someone who’s not afraid to come out of her comfort zone.

Paper Towns is a flick I recommend to those who will be leaving high school soon or those graduating from College, find something life changing before you start a new chapter in your life because who knows that ‘something’ might change you perspective about life forever.

The Fault In Our Stars 2014

"Pain demands to be felt"

I read the book myself and I honestly thought it was tragic and sad but nevertheless I still watched the movie just to see the characters in human form. I was surprised to see Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort (Divergent) played the role of lovers Hazel and Augustus in this flick ‘cuz they were siblings in Divergent lol. Anyways, they were good actors though.

Main Characters:

• Hazel Grace Lancaster (Shailene Woodley) - has terminal thyroid cancer
• Augustus Waters (Ansel Elgort) - lost a leg from bone cancer, Hazel’s love interest
• Peter Van Houten (Willem Dafoe) - writer of An Imperial Affliction
• Isaac (Nat Wolff) - Augustus’ friend, became blind due to cancer as well.

Hazel’s mother thought she was depressed because she’s been reading the same book over and over thus sends her to this Cancer patients support group. She has terminal thyroid cancer which already spread to her lungs thus she brings her oxygen tank with her wherever she goes.

Hazel met Augustus Waters who lost a leg when he was younger due to bone cancer and has been cancer free. The two became lovers and at one point Hazel shared to Gus (Augustus) this book called An Imperial Affliction, a novel about a cancer-stricken girl named Anna, reminiscent of Hazel's ordeal. Gus liked it except for the abrupt ending, their frustrations were mutual though. Gus, curious how the story will end, sent the author, Peter Van Houten an email. Hazel and Gus went all the way to Amsterdam to meet him yet they were distraught to learn what an asshole Peter was. Whilst still in Amsterdam, Gus told Hazel that his cancer came back and is terminal. It was a short eight days, Gus passed on.

During his funeral Peter had a moment to talk to Hazel no matter how pissed off Hazel was at him. He said the book is about his daughter, handed this letter to Hazel which she refused to read thinking it was from Peter. Hazel learned from Isaac the letter was from Gus. She read and smiled.

It was a sad ending because Gus died but at least they found each other and spent their forever within the numbered days like what Hazel said. John Green loves unconventional endings I guess.

Alright, let me shift from drama to a heart racing one.

San Andreas (2015

Main Characters:

• Ray (Dwayne Johnson) - Blake’s Dad, LAFD search-and-rescue helicopter pilot
• Emma (Carla Gugino) - Blake’s Mom
• Blake (Alexandra Daddario) 
• Ben (Hugo Johnstone-Burt) - engineering student from England, Blake’s love interest
• Ollie (Art Parkinson) - Ben’s little brother
• Daniel Riddick (Ioan Gruffudd) - Emma’s new boyfriend
• Dr. Lawrence Hayes (Paul Giamatti) - a Caltech seismologist

Blake’s parents are in the middle of a divorce. She lost her sister to drowning thus grew her parents apart. Ray, her dad, is supposed to go with her for a trip to San Francisco but work got in the way so she went with Daniel instead, her mom’s new boyfriend.

In San Francisco, Daniel tagged Blake along to his office. She met brothers Ben and Ollie, British siblings from England. Ben, an applicant at Daniel’s office, was accompanied by his younger brother Ollie and they’re supposed to tour San Francisco afterwards. Ben spilled his coffee and Blake let him borrow her hanky. She learned that he’s there for a job interview. Ollie then butt in and asked for Blake’s number on his brother’s behalf. She left her number in Ollie’s little tourist guide book in case they need help touring the city.

Meanwhile, Dr. Lawrence Hayes,  a Caltech seismologist found that the San Andreas fault is moving and a magnitude 9 earthquake is happening anytime soon. The quake hit sooner than expected whilst Emma is having lunch at a hotel with Daniel’s sister. She was one of the casualties although not badly wounded that she still managed to jump towards Ray’s helicopter. They went to search for their daughter Blake in San Francisco aboard the search and rescue helicopter. Blake was left behind by the way by Daniel as soon as he got the chance when they got trapped at the building’s parking lot. She was later on saved by Ben and Ollie when the brothers overheard Daniel told the police that a woman was trapped at the parking lot.

Blake called her parents from an already turned ramshackle shop’s phone and told them she’s with Ben and Ollie. Ray and Emma joined forces to rescue their daughter. Ray safely landed their helicopter since it’s out of fuel in Bakersfield, CA then continued their search on a motor boat. Amidst the rubble and tsunami, they found Blake at this collapsing building whilst on a motor boat. Blake almost died but her parents found her along with brothers Ben and Ollie. Ray resuscitated Blake, she survived.

It was one hell of a movie really from start to finish. I enjoyed it because it kept me jumpy and awake. Well, except for the casualties, I was awed by the special effects of course, it was reminiscent of the movie 2012, kinda like dooms day.

If you love suspense then go ahead and rent a copy if you haven’t seen this movie yet since it was on theatres last year.

And the last, my fave.

Almost Famous (2000)

Main Characters:

• Penny Lane (Kate Hudson) - Lady Goodman a.k.a Penny Lane, Original founder of Band Aids
• Russell Hammond (Billy Krudrup) - guitarist, Stillwater
• William Miller (Patrick Fugit) - aspiring 15 year old rock music journalist
• Elaine Miller (Frances McDormand) - William’s mother
• Anita Miller (Zooey Deschanel) - William’s sister
• Lester Bangs (Philip Seymour Hoffman) - rock journalist from Cream Magazine. Became William’s mentor

I’ve seen this movie a few times but it’s still one of the coolest ones ever for rock music fans like me.

William Miller grew up with an English college professor mother Elaine, who was kind of control freak and wants him to become a Lawyer, and Anita, her sister who loves Simon and Garfunkel which his mom claims to be writing songs about whilst on dope. His sister Anita and mother never got along. Later on Anita flew out of state to become a stewardess and left her most precious LPs to William, she whispered someday you will be cool.

William submitted articles to Lester Bangs, a renowned journalist of Cream Magazine. He liked his articles and thought William was a smart kid. Lester gave him an assignment, to write an article about Black Sabbath and he’ll get $35 which he happily accepted. He went to the Black Sabbath concert but was not allowed (even if he claimed to be a journalist from Cream magazine) at the back stage because he doesn’t have any pass. He was told to join the ladies a.k.a groupies but still no good until the band Stillwater turned up. The band manager cussed William after he introduced himself as a journalist (because the band was dissed by Rolling Stones at one point), he was allowed in after he said that the bands music was incendiary. They called him ‘the enemy’ though. Russell Hammond, the guitarist liked William especially when he realised that he knows Penny Lane, who claims to be a band aid and not a groupie. Penny and Russell seemed to already have this ‘thing’ for each other.

His one time stint as a free lance journalist became serious when Rolling Stone’s Editor Ben Fong-Torres offered him to write an article for them for a grand. William picked the band he’s with, Stillwater. William eventually joined the band during their tour, from one state to another, missed his exams, lost his virginity, was exposed to the rock and roll lifestyle, drugs and became close to Penny and the band. He learned that Penny is in love with Russell, but Russell has a girlfriend named Leslie and that, Penny is just his girlfriend while on tour. William never liked the idea because Penny is real and she doesn’t deserve to be treated like that.

The band left Penny on her birthday, the manager said they cannot accommodate her on the plane anymore. William felt terribly sorry for Penny and divulged that they traded her for a case of beer and fifty bucks.

William failed to attend his high school graduation, finally showed up at the Rolling Stone office, to their shock, they found out that William is just a kid. Still, Ben was amazed with his writing prowess. However, the band denied 90% of what he wrote and claimed they were pure fabrication since he’s just a fan. Russell however, in the end, called the magazine to refute what he originally said thus William’s story was published. Stillwater made it on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine and the story was called Stillwater runs deep.

I love this flick and let me also mention that it bagged 2001 Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. Roger Ebert , best film of the year, 9th best film of the 2000s, two Golden Globes: Best Picture and Kate Hudson won Best Supporting Actress as per Wiki.

Goodbye To You...2015

Happy 2016, year of the Monkey. And oh happy Three Kings as well since today is already January the 3rd. The holiday season is finally over.  

I hope this year will be good to me since I was born year of the Monkey which only happens every twelve years thus the next would be on 2028. 

Not that 2015 wasn't good to me, it’s just that a death of a long time family companion, our dog for ten years is just kind of hard to bear since he passed away few days after Christmas. All could’ve been perfect this year, from my sister and I’s most sought after birthday travel, the new home, me leaving my job for three years since I was never happy with it anyways, the feeling you’re finally settled until the unexpected happened, the demise of our beloved family canine. 

I truly believe you cannot have everything. The ups and downs is part of life, to maintain some sort of balance to everything, to keep the ball of fate going perhaps. I am just thankful to God for joyous 2015, nevertheless. For me and my family’s good health, and let me also mention that one of our dog who was tested positive for blood parasite infection came negative after couple of months. The news came that same fateful day of Brandon’s (the german shepherd) passing. 

stash from the Sunflower Festival, the Elephant key chain
 and the lovely mango soap, smell so good you can
almost eat it.

my DIY bathroom mirror...

Moving on, new year, fresh start, clean slate. My sissy and I will be renewing our passports this year. We’re brewing a trip to Thailand for our birthday (hopefully). My niece suggested Pattaya, Thailand to this place called Sanctuary of Truth since she recently attended this event called the Sunflower Festival. We saw the temples there through pictures and we were amazed since we love to travel to temples with intricate structures and carvings. We’re crossing our fingers it would materialise and not just wishful thinking although chances are it will because we are eager, adventurous souls who will never say never. 

another one of my DIY projects:
jutified yoghurt bottle :D

As for me, I started my year with more DIY projects such as the one I recently made--couple of flower vases from empty/recycled wine bottles which I decorated with jute twines, plain monochromatic mirror turned into work of art etc. I am also venturing into making other steamed foods other than pastries such as my new baby, rice cake with caramel custard on top (Puto Flan) recipe I found on YouTube.

freshly made Puto Flan

PUTO FLAN RECIPE

Ingredients

5 egg yolks

5 egg whites

2 cups cake flour

1 cup white sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup evaporated milk

2 tsp lemon

1 1/2 cup water

1 cup condensed milk

1. flan mixture : add together lemon, condensed, egg yolks

• grease pans with butter
• steam for 10mins

2. rice cake mixture: combine egg white, evap milk, sugar mix till well blended

3. mix dry ingredients: baking powder, cake flour, salt

4. combine rice cake and dry ingredients together whilst pouring water, mix until well blended.

5. pour cake mix on top of cooked flan; steam for 10mins again.

let it cool. 

I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did. I also cooked Aglio Oglio pasta paired with breaded pork chops which I sliced so thinly then breaded it using eggs, cornstarch and bread crumbs for Media Noche. It was heaven though especially when dashed with this homemade sauce I found in Google last minute too called Honey Garlic Sauce which is an amalgamation of  the ff:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3-4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup honey 
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

I can’t find any chicken last minute before New Year’s eve and as much as I hate eating pork I had no choice though.

Again, Happy New Year!!! Let’s bury all the hatchet.