Pending Passions

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins From Amazon: Book Description In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games," a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. My take on the story: When I first saw this book, I didn’t even mind it. I was used to hearing about great reads but I tend to avoid going with the trend. When Christmas time came, I decided that it would be a great gift, especially ha...

Picture taken from kryzuy.com Okay, I know I've been surfing a lot of fashion blogs lately and it's probably time that I actually acknowledge another one. Kryz Uy  is an amazing stylist, fashionista, entrepreneur, Filipina from the wonderful world of CEBU City! She has her own store, What A Girl Wants, which sells the most amazing clothes although I haven't bought any from that store yet. (saving for some great finds when I get to CDO) I actually didn't know WAGW was hers until I started visiting and revisiting her blog over and over just to look at her fashion photos. Her style is awesome and her shoes are absolutely adorable. From reading her posts, I think that she's a really fun girl who lives life to the fullest in her own way. She also does modelling and has been featured in a lot of fashion magazines and even advertisements. Anyway, she just had her birthday and she's throwing the third leg of her birthday blowout until January 25. If you love fas...

I love leche flan. Though I’m not exactly sure what it’s called in English (probably custard cake or something), I would love to taste other versions of this delicious pastry. When I was still in Cagayan de Oro, I had a semi-kitchen all to myself and without anyone to look over my shoulder and laugh at what I was doing I took the opportunity to experiment on one of my favorite foods of all time. Here are the ingredients: 1 can condensed milk 1 can evaporated milk 4 eggs That’s basically it. Proportion your condensed and evaporated milk accordingly: if your condensed is 300ml then evaporated milk should be the next size (I forgot how many ml it is). You can put as many as eight eggs in the flan, I think. Anyway, with all these ingredients, the first thing to be done would be to pour all of them in a container for mixing.   Here I used rice cooker for a mixing bowl because I don’t have the kitchen utensils needed for such a spontaneous task. A...

Psychological Recovery...6 Months by Hans Zimmer (okay, I tried uploading a video or linking it to youtube but these things just don't work well with me) (you can play this while reading, like what I did when I was writing it) At this very moment, I am listening to Hans Zimmer’s magnificent piece ‘Psychological  Recovery…6 months’ from his Sherlock Holmes soundtrack. I am in awe of his artistic capabilities and how he makes music to sound so captivating. His music tells stories without words. The excitement, the exhilaration of his pieces makes me want to make my own adventures. This is beauty. Music is beauty. It is, in my opinion, for those who prefer not to be distracted by physical appearances. It is for those who can appreciate each note, each instrument that comes in contact with a person’s ears. It is for those who think it worthy to take time and actually listen to what’s going on. Music, especially those without lyrics, tells the listeners different stories e...

Description from Amazon.com: " Somewhere in South America, at the home of the country's vice president, a lavish birthday party is being held in honor of Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera's most revered soprano, has mesmerized the international guests with her singing. It is a perfect evening -- until a band of gun-wielding terrorists breaks in through the air-conditioning vents and takes the entire party hostage. But what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different countries and continents become compatriots.Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion and cannot be stopped." My take on the story: Bel Canto is one of those stories where you think you know what's going on but you just don't get it until you read i...

Let's try out something new. I know I said I'd be a girl (or at least girly) this year so I'm going to start posting about bloggers who have absolutely cool fashion sense (and the ability to use that sense for a living). First up is Tricia Gosingtian's blog:  Tricia Will Go Places I found her blog while reading Candy's Fashion something something (see I can't even remember fashion magazine titles) and realized that it's time to browse sites that doesn't involve first person shooter games or downloadable movies. She has really amazing clothes and goes to all those places any girl would want to go. She's also a photographer which still makes me wonder if she takes pictures of herself with a tripod and self-timer when she posts her looks. I find it so hard to take pictures of myself with or without a photographer friend (which is probably why all my looks are located in my room and filed in a vanity folder in my external hd). Anyway, Tricia is just ...

Every morning you wake up to a fresh start.

I sometimes think that it's too late to actually be a girl and start wearing clothes that would actually be called part of fashion. Most of the time I find myself pulling the first thing I could see in my closet which is usually a shirt and a pair of jeans. A year ago I'd pair everything with rubber shoes. At least now I've got two sets of sandals I'd alternate so my sneakers could rest for a while. I admit I used to love dressing up and I used to buy magazines with beautiful clothes worn by incredible models but that had been a long time ago and I haven't been in the fashion loop since. So I bought a style guide last week and decided to redo my wardrobe. The decision started when I got a short stint with blog commenting. It was about fashion blogs and I was constantly drawn to the many beautiful outfits these girls (and even guys) wear. The quality of their photos were awesome. Their clothes were fabulous but oh so expensive! Everything had to be branded and whew...