Breakups & Breakdowns

On Valentine's Eve, I caught the evening performance of Breakups & Breakdowns, a comedy musical written by Joel Trinidad and music composed by Rony Fortich.

As this is a Filipino work, created by young artists, I was rather enthusiastic to see the production put up by Ateneo Blue Rep. I won't call this a review but rather a first take or impression since I need at least two viewings to make a defensible assessment.

The musical centers around the romantic relationships of two roommates: Mark, the playwright and Derek, the actor. Mark is played by Mark Baluyan; Derek by Gigo de Guzman; Nina, the love interest of Mark, is played by Mian Dimacali, and Sandy, Derek's love is played by Mav Gonzales.

I love these young actors, but the vocal performances didn't do it for me this evening. All four members of the cast had pitch problems, but especially the women. This was unfortunate because I think this obscured how good the songs are. They sang decently during pieces that required all four singing together, but on their "solos" there were some real issues.

I had some problems with the acting, as well. Mark's character is supposed to be a perfectionist. However, he comes across more as an idealist. I didn't see the obsessiveness, the need to correct other people, that I think the playwright was trying to show. In the many times that Derek tells his roommate to "shut up", it comes across as a forced script device, rather than a genuine doorstop to another one of Mark's pointed comments.

Sandy is supposed to be pretending to be something she isn't -- a player when in reality she really is a clingy person. I didn't see this tension of keeping up appearances, nor did I see any real change in character when she finally stops playing "the game" with Derek.

It's easy to point out the aspects of the show I found lacking. However, I did enjoy myself. I found myself laughing from the many witty bits in the dialogue. I've been rewarded watching small productions in Ateneo that are better than larger productions of the same musical staged in venues like RCBC. I would watch this production again, because I know they're capable of better.

short stories

After weeks of postponing, I hosted a small gathering of work colleagues at home last night. Nine of them came to share in the spaghetti in meat sauce, chips, cookies, wine, beer, soda, and The Bar. They made good use of our billiards table -- unfortunately something I do not do as I have very little interest for this sport/activity.

We talked about our usual topics: work, politics, movies, music, people. The evening felt like an extended lunch hour, at night, but with a pool table and some alcohol. By 3 am everybody had cleared out; I'd like to think they all had a swell time.

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I have a plan to study most of the day today. Hurdles would be: other things to read, the urge to nap, and an errand to pick up two liters of milk. Once I buckle down and actually open the textbook though, I expect that I will be sailing along. . .

It's Valentine's weekend, and I'm happily at home, reading tweets, and some short stories. I suspect the reason I never enjoyed short stories as much as novels, is due to the novels being more usually in a handsome format -- that is a hardbound document, or printed on good paper. Typically, I encounter short stories on: websites, PDF form, or a badly produced photocopy. We read with our eyes, but there is also a tactile dimension in the process of reading.

We started walking at Legarda

I did a walking tour of Manila yesterday, on a Sunday. Not Celdran's. Not Man Dy's. This guy is rather new at it, and we're the guinea pigs. 

1. The LRT 2 Line (Santolan-Recto). Therapeutic on a Sunday. Sometimes you need to see our city not very noisy.

2. San Sebastian Church. There are worse places to get married. I had forgotten the interior was kick-ass. It's probably the nicest in the whole Metro Manila.

3. Baluarte San Andres in Intramuros. The view of the city from there is great. 

4. Believe me that there are views of the Pasig river that do not look bad at all.

5. Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM) in Intramuros has a great facade. 

That said, I would not go to most of these places on a weekday. 

On a Sunday afternoon, take a train to Manila and go somewhere old. It's good for you. 

6. We had drinks at Cafe Adriatico. The place is still okay. :)

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Oriental Park at Circle Inn near Quezon Avenue is now a branch of Le Ching. WTF. Sorry, I hate this fast food type resto. It offended me at Techno Park also. ByeBye OP. You must have been there for some 40+ years.

San Antonio Village

Was at San Antonio Village last night for a party at The Alley, a complex of new apartment houses in a Makati neighborhood that in many respects should be called dodgy and a dump. So of course it was rather fun. The neighborhood grillery had delicious sinuglaw. Still had to tweet-bitch that it's ridiculous that I have to go to Vito Cruz from Pasong Tamo to access this part of town. 

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Escaped into Cubao X for drinks with David, LJ and Bert. The place is increasingly hit or miss. Well, it was hit, since we bumped into two nutjob ladies (I mean that in the nicest way), a chef and Apl.de.ap. 

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We spent the rest of the night driving around and LJ humiliating us in Burgos.

Fruit Cups

Full day. Swim. Work. Workout. Trivia.

The mornings and evenings have been cold in Manila, but mid-day has become rather hot. I'm currently writing a profile report on an educational institution -- that's the space my brain has been occupying the past few days. I experienced being denied data I needed which I thought was very public data; it irked me for a while, then I forgot about it.

Fruit Alert! Life seems to get better. Our 9th Floor cafeteria has started selling: fruit cups! for PHP 25, 40 or 50, depending on the size, you get a fruit cup with chopped up pieces of fruit with: apple, pineapple, papaya, grape, melon, mango and watermelon. I opt to eat it without the sweet milk poured on top of it. Another way for me to get my fruit fix. . .now if only I could regularly scrounge up some Benguet berries.

I really pushed myself tonight, and I realize that I CAN push myself if I've eaten right and I've rest right. This is the reward of eating and sleeping: your body won't punish you too much if you DO want to go hard.

C is reading my book again, and I have to do some reading before I sleep.

We kicked a lot of ace tonight at Murphy's.

Run #2

I thought that we would hit around 7 or 8 people tonight for our little running club. Our turn-out was 13, including a few managers and the Advisory partner. It was a very good turn-out, and I'm quite pleased that people are enthusiastic about the whole thing. My initial plan was for run #3 to take place this Thursday, but already they are demanding for something on Wednesday. Their wish is my command.

I think it helps that the paths in Ayala Triangle Park are quite pleasant, and there aren't too many people yet. We ran at 630pm, but I think that it would still be more pleasant if we returned to a 730pm start, or a morning start. Either way, we are well insulated from any car fumes when we run.

Eventually, we'll have to come up with some running programs and some running journals so that we can keep things interesting. If you have any ideas of how to make running more interesting (30-40 mins runs only), while keeping within one running venue, let me know.

* * *

I stayed in today with C, and decided to skip trivia night at some bar in Pioneer (I have not tried yet) . I think I might have made the right decision as TMI-J texted: This place is full of obnoxious ugly youth. Ha ha ha ha ha.

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I enjoyed my boring groceries today: apple, bread, peanut butter, and juice

back from hiatus

Tomorrow evening, I play running coach to a few people in the office who want to get some additional cardiovascular exercise during the week. I'll be taking them through a 30 minute walk/run-as-you'd-like exercise at the Ayala Triangle Park. This will be the first time myself to test Ayala Triangle to see how conducive it is to runners -- it should be a lot better than nearby Salcedo Park. Will let you all know just how good a running venue it turns out to be.

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In other urban news, life is picking up again in the city after the usual long holiday break in Manila (also called December). There are outstanding projects to wrap up, reports to cram in, and people to appease. A new cycle has begun. Thankfully, to aid me in achieving all this, I have been issued a new laptop which runs at a much faster speed.

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A whole bunch of new books issued this break, so I've got my work cut out for me.