american idol 2010 is upon us!

i can almost taste it!!!! and we have clearer tv and new surround sound too, how perfectly exciting!

this is the year to watch… i mean, i say that every year, but this.is.the.year. very crucial developments have made their way into the drama that is idol. not least, of course, the departure of my favorite pop female artist, paula abdul, who has been with the show since day 1 and has been peppered with controversy after controversy from suspicions of alcohol in her coca-cola tumbler to an alleged raunchy scandal involving one of the semi-finalists. and who better to take that place than the irrepressible and confessed idol fanatic, ellen degeneres (story here)? really, you would never in your life want to miss a whole season of ellen and simon together in a panel.

and this just might be your last chance to witness ellen and simon banter… reports announce that 2010 is his final season with american idol (click here for story). he will be concentrating on bringing x-factor into the states after that. seriously, folks. this.is.your.last.and.only.chance.

paula's gone from idol and after next season most likely simon would be gone too

i can harldy contain myself! in two weeks, american idol will kick-off with a two-night season premiere. and the much-anticipated auditions, as always, will surely make your wednesday and thurdsday nights (in our time zone, that is) the most important primetimes of your week!

scheduled dates for airing of audition episodes (dates in the u.s.):

january 12 – boston

january 13 – atlanta

january 19 – chicago

january 20 – orlando

january 26 – dallas

january 27 – l.a.

february 2 – denver

february 3 – “road to hollywood”

february 9 – hollywood round 1

february 10 – hollywood round 2

february 16 – hollywood round 3

february 17 – live show semi-finalists announcement

guest judges include victoria beckham, mary j. blige, kristin chenoweth, neil patrick harris, joe jonas, avril lavigne, katy perry and shania twain.

kristin chenoweth, best known for her roles in pushing daisies and broadway's wicked will provide her opinions during next season's a.i. auditions.

something to look forward to: the hilarious nph will guest judge.

do not miss this opportunity! if you were just a casual fan or was never interested in a.i. at all before, you owe it to yourself to at least watch the auditions next season. believe me. you want to.

looking back at 2009 shoes vol. 2: my favorites

continuation to this.

my favorite shoes in 2009:

cut-away boots…

jil sander ss 09

georgina goodman fw 09

exaggerated platforms…

gianmarco lorenzi fw 09

guillaume hinfray fw 09

decorative heels…

viktor and rolf ss 09

christian dior fw 09

feathers, scales or a simulation thereof…

pierre hardy fw 09

mai lamore fw 09

pedro garcia fw 09

mai lamore fw 09

vouelle fw 09

fringe…

gianmarco lorenzi fw 09

and my most favorite pair of 2009:

gianmarco lorenzi. fabulous!

christmas wishlist come true

christmas has never tarnished its childlike charm to me. and i always go into the season with the same feeling of wonder and excitement as when i was just waist-high and struggling to read the gift cards. now that i have been participating in the actual buying of gifts (and have been doing so for over ten years), it is even double the merriment that i am able to both open my gifts and watch people open the gifts i wrapped.

some females choose to post their wishlist online probably hoping some of them will materialize (meaning some friends and family will read the entry and buy the stuff) like a bridal registry. i have done it myself before here, and none of the things happened to cross my hands (well, i did get a pair of stella lunas after i wrote the entry, but they’re a different pair. so that doesn’t count). of course, i may have been shooting over my head there even with just three hundred thousand pesos (php300,000.00), but i could have at least bought robyn more books for her leap pad.

today, i am still hankering for a trip to japan and rimowa luggages to travel there with, but i’ll take my return ticket to the philippines and my cheap ass generic brand luggage if it means i can visit home and eat danggit again. nevertheless, i came into the christmas season with a mental wishlist much simpler, more tailor-fit to my current situation and more accessible than my imagination would warrant. but they by all means give the same sense of satisfaction, coupled with the warm fuzzy feeling that comes with being able to take part in another season of exchanging gifts. cheesy? you bet.

i chose not to post any sort of wishlist, despite my fascination with assembling lists. however, i will post some of the stuff i received. because these are some of the things that make up my wishlist and i’m happy-dappy like a little kid.

my favorite scent, 2008’s most awarded fragrance, daisy by marc jacobs. moderately old in designer fragrance years, but still my favorite. too bad i missed the limited edition edp (which strangely cost the same as the edt) by about three days from the when the last bottle was sold, but i’m very happy with it no less. i know fragrance is such a cliche gift, but i don’t think i will ever get tired of receiving them.

a woven raffia roxy fedora with shell, grosgrain ribbon and chain embellishments and…

…a black pinstripe quiksilver “mob” fedora with embroidered crest and same-fabric sash. i started to regain my thing for hats when we had to wait in the sydney airport for nearly seven hours en route to nadi last september. my husband bought me a white-and-black hat that looks like eva longoria’s and then i remembered how i once really liked hats but the philippines just isn’t a country that exactly embraces the accessory whole-heartedly (unless you are a musician or an artist. which i neither am). now i’m back to liking and collecting them.

coincidentally, i wrote “toothbrush” in our grocery list, and look what i found under the tree! we’ve always meant to buy the oral b electronic toothbrush but thought it too expensive to clean teeth with, so i’m happy someone gave me and my husband a pair of these things.

books from two of my favorite humorists. when you are engulfed in flames by david sedaris and mere anarchy by woody allen. i believe all the hype. yes, they are all that.

ok, i don’t have the least liking for robert greene’s machiavellian laws on leadership and how many of my previous managers so full of themselves live by his books like religious fanatics, but i admit that i read them all the time. yeah, i do, so kill me for being cliche yet again. the very same way i read so many other political philosophies i heavily disagreed with but intensely admired for the thinking behind them (like hitler’s, for instance). collaborating with 50 cent, greene comes up with another set of leadership principles in the 50th law for me to read with intense pleasure then disagree with during discussions. because i’m silly like i just enjoy insecure guys defend their peer-pressured beliefs like they are defending themselves against murder.

the advanced 32-stitch electronic singer sewing machine! with a users guide that reads more like a computer textbook than a home ec training manual. while trying to prioritize things and making ends meet, my husband and i started talking about getting one and we’ve been playing around with figures like how much we have to pay every week or how much we should negotiate for a second-hand one (especially since all of a sudden one day i found that we have to pay every week for a new tv and stereo system on top of basic needs and utilities from a single-income household with an applying immigrant who hates cooking… me, in other words). then lo! i get a sewing machine as a christmas present from the folks! doesn’t the world just work in mysterious ways?

reviews on some of the items later.

hope everybody had a wonderful christmas!

first christmas!

ironic for the first christmas post of this blog, here is last christmas by 19-year-old dutch artist emerald de leeuw.

a very merry christmas everybody!

looking back at 2009 shoes vol. 1: trendspotting

before the holidays completely overwhelm me with laziness and before the year finally comes to a close, i would like to take a brief look back at the year that was incredible shoes.

the prevailing shoe trends of 2009:

designs at the back or the heels themselves
platforms to dizzying heights: either artistically rendered or hidden altogether
fringes or feathers
scales (or a simulation thereof)
cut-away or mesh inset boots
thigh high boots
decorative ankle straps
victorian button- or lace-up

and certainly nothing even close to plain!

louis vuitton ss 09

lanvin ss 09

diego dolcini fw 09

nicholas kirkwood ss 09

devi kroell ss 09

cesare paciotti fw 09

christian louboutin fw 09

heather williams fw 09

stella mccartney fw 09

camilla skovgaard fw 09

fendi fw 09

manolo blahnik ss 09

alexandra neel fw 09

omelle fw 09

proenza schouler fw 09

versace ss 09

alejandro ingelmo fw 09

gaspard yurkievich fw 09

charlotte olympia fw 09

tanja s. london fw 09

alexander wang ss 09

michael lewis fw 09

rock & republic ss 09

baldinini fw 09

ruthie davis fw 09

whatever you call it, it put our power out

we call it cyclone. cyclone mike, specifically, last monday. back in the philippines, we were more accustomed to calling it typhoon. i believe some cultures call it hurricane. i read in our encyclopedia back in high school that the difference is just nominative, they’re all the same calamities. can someone verify?

whatever you choose to call it, it caused widespread power outage and we’ve been in the “dark” since monday. well, apart from the t.v. and the occasional reading lamp every night, c/o a small generator.

we can hardly even charge our cell phones, how much more for our laptops. our desktop pc’s are completely out of the question. we had to drive to town to check our emails.

this is how dependent we have become to technology. oh, our poor meaningless existence.

curse you, cyclone mike!

miss unibarse 2009 top 25!

if you look around this blog, you will find that it’s no secret how i adore barbie dolls. a few months ago, i discovered a team of creative minds who don’t just adore these dolls, they downright labor over them and established miss unibarse, the annual doll pageant meant to simulate a grand slam pageant in a literally smaller scale. but as we have learned from a past interview (posted here), there is certainly nothing small about this somehow wild and wonderful idea.

for one, f&g photography and global queen beauty management, the brains and talents behind this event, have clearly spared no expense and devoted no little effort in preparing their “dollegates”. looking at the results, you can tell immediately that these are not your average children-at-heart playing with dolls. these are professionals and artists who have taken painstaking care and precision in conceptualizing and preparing each candidate. and two, they involve a panel of judges with industry credibility so serious, this might as well get sponsorship from a few forbes 500 companies (or at least mattel, i honestly think).

previous judges include (from r-l) miss universe '05 natalie glebova, miss earth '07 jessica trisko, and miss international '07 priscila perales.

according to a reliable source, this year the panel includes two celeb judges who, for discretionary reasons, must remain unnamed. it should be enough to note that these two are affiliated with that very famous and often very controversial benefactor of the miss universe organization, mr. d.t. (namesake of a hot-tempered duck in a popular animation syndicate).

moving on to this year’s festivities…

organizers and judges have just concluded the special events of national costume, press presentation (for miss photogenic), swimsuit, evening gown and online voting (for the “people’s choice” award). here are some of my favorite moments:

candidates arrive at the host country.

luncheon with reigning miss unibarse 2008, miss dominican republic.

press presentation to determine the most photogenic candidate.

parade of nations.

backstage at the evening gown competition.

here are my favorite national costumes:

and evening gowns:

thanks to us, obsessive online voters of the philippines, our “dollegate” has fast-tracked her way into the top 25! (we are the same obsessive online voters responsible for ms. philippines winning miss photogenic every year in the real grand slam pageants)

from 80 candidates, now we’re down to the top 25. check them out and the rest of the fast-track winners:

visit the miss unibarse website to learn more about the pageant and to keep track of your favorite candidates!

holiday wedding vol. 3: the sparkling reception

continuation to this.

placecard holders: miniature-ized well-loved trimmings

white snowflakes look great with iridescent table confetti. gold wire christmas pines are classic.

small poinsettia and christmas balls add whimsy and would make great conversation pieces.

from bridal people.

centerpiece: gather the tree trimmings and put the lights on

one of the easiest things to do is make centerpieces during the christmas season, with the abundance of decorating items. you can gather balls into a bowl or candles on a plate and voila!

from superweddings.

the wedding cake: ribbons, poinsettia and edible winter

adorn your cake with a silver or gold ribbon; instead of the usual roses, how about fondant poinsettia instead?

check this out, sprays of snowflakes as if they burst off the cake!

from wedding flowers and reception ideas and perfect wedding day.

wedding favors: christmas decorations

decorations like this snowflake candle holder and this crystal tree trimming make the best favors. your guests can put them up in their homes and be reminded of you every christmas season!

you can even put the favors in gift boxes! how about a personalized christmas ball?

from bridal people, cool party favors and stylehive.

the reception area: lots of lights and all things that glitter

like i said, i love holiday weddings because you get the opportunity to go crazy with the lights!

from wedding53.

set the atmosphere with a string quartet that plays christmas carols.

set up a space like this where you and your guests can pose for photos. this one sure beats the hell out of a printed tarp background.

from venus ensembles.

holiday wedding vol. 2: the nitty gritty details

continuation to this entry.

the bouquet: berries and crystals

deep colored blooms like red roses and burgundy lilies add to the richness of the season's theme. adorned with berries, they give you the idea of a mistletoe.

from kaboodle and wedding flowers and reception ideas.

i am very partial towards crystals in just about anything, so i'm all for bridal flowers bedazzled with swarovski crystals. especially during christmas!

from pink frosting and silk wedding designs.

bind the stem with luxurious fabrics or ribbons in christmas colors; if it's a winter wedding, instead of a traditional bouquet, warm your hands in a muff of flowers!

from wedding flowers and reception ideas.

ring bearer pillow and flower girl basket: lots of bows and twigs with moss or pine needles

overload the pillow and basket with satin and gossamer ribbons. they will take on the appearance of christmas presents.

from eliza fig.

not precisely what i imagined, but very good representations of what i had in mind nonetheless: twigs and moss or pine needles with mistletoe, berries, pinecones and flowers to make the pillow look like a wreath and the basket look like a goodie stash.

from etsy and inspired occasions.

candles: bright and cheery candle holders

bright and shiny colors lend a festive feel to these otherwise austere decors, and the rustic pinecone candle holders add flair.

from bridal people.

sendoff from church: snowflakes, stars and sleigh-bells

instead of rice, have the guests toss snowflakes and star confetti at the bride and groom.

from chico party.

let the guests jingle gold and silver sleigh bells as they toss confetti to the newlyweds. and these double as wedding favors too!

from bisman weddings and eliza fig.

holiday wedding vol. 1: the christmas bride

why get married during the christmas season?

1. appropriate decors and trimmings are easier to find and are more reasonably priced this time of the year.
2. hotels, restaurants and halls are lavishly decorated already, minimizing reception costs.
3. christmas carols can form part of your wedding songs.
4. many family and friends from overseas are home for the holidays; all of you can reunite on the wedding day (not to mention, you don’t have to spend for their airfare at all!)
5. numerous additional design ideas like snowflakes, poinsettia, mistletoe, wreaths and berries can be included in the theme.
6. there’s magic in the air!
7. and, my personal favorite, you have the right to go crazy with sparkly things like lights, crystals, candles and glitter!

the wedding dress

for winter: faux fur and stylish jackets

if christmas happens during winter in your country, take warmth into consideration. remember, bundling up doesn’t mean looking frumpy and shapeless. you can keep the cut of your dream gown using warm fabrics like brocade or faux fur. you can even use a stylish coat or jacket.

fur, either trim or a full-on coat, adds the perfect charm to a winter wedding dress.

from bride and wed-shopping.

i have always loved the sight of a slim jacket over a bouffant skirt, like this cardigan (left) or this structured overcoat (right).

from fashionbride.

for the maximalist: gold and platinum with lots of embellishment

what is christmas decorating if not shiny? radiate the season in shades of the most precious metals in materials that sparkle and extra-elaborate details that will give the june bride a run for her money. this is december, this is the holiday, this is your chance to live out your most opulent fantasies.

yards and yards of material in gold or platinum in keeping with the traditional christmas scheme. you have the right to remain shiny!

from wedding ideas magazine.

pearls, crystals, lace, tulle... embellish to your heart's content!

dress at left from elie saab.

for the sweet and stylish: red and green bows

like christmas presents that come with a bow, an elegant dress with a sash tied into a nifty ribbon will evoke wonderful memories of the season.

whether on an art deco-inspired design (left) or a jane austen-esque cut (right) a sash pulls the dress together.

from bridalwave.

although a simple sash without the bow is also very attractive, the idea is to create a parallel to gifts. and they usually come with a bow.

from onewed.

for the bold: red and green dresses

red and green may not make a traditional wedding dress, but everybody knows they are traditional christmas shades. if you are courageous enough, why not take the plunge? reds in ruby or burgundy; greens in emerald or forest hues.

if you can handle it, go all out and wear the season's shades.

from red hot brides and bridalwave.

not that bold? then put the red and green in the details.

from house of brides.

and, finally, my favorite:

from okbbaru.

a long lean trench that drags down to the floor in a flowy train with fur trim and crystals around the waist. over a slinky gown. and those gloves, that purse, that little tiara! stuff sleigh-ride-in-the-snow dreams are made of!