Getting jiggy with Iza Calzado, ethereal beauty behind the movie ‘Batanes’
So now you know why we were flying up North. We were supposed to go there with movie actress Iza Calzado for the premiere of her movie ‘Batanes.’ In the film opening in theaters on Dec.5 , Iza stars with good-looking newcomer Roem Bascon and Taiwanese superstar Ken Chu (of the F4 fame). The heart-wrenching drama will either make you cry for a lost love or enthrall you with the cinematography taken mostly in rustic Batanes, with its lush valleys, majestic cliffs and imposing sea.
Iza was first actress I’ve talked to in a long, long time and it helped that she was the epitome of niceness, not to mention beauty. The girl has the most tantalizing almond eyes, a perfect set of teeth and a “real” body which is not shrunken from too much diet 
. Was glad to sit down with her to ask some slum-book type of questions and she was such a sport to answer. Okay, let’s get jiggy with it 
.. here goes:
What are the Top 5 places you love?
Iza: Batanes – there’s just so much beauty there – whether you turn right, turn left, look up or look down!
Paris – I went there with my boyfriend in 2006 and it was just so romantic!
Washington, D.C. – because of the cherry blossoms in spring and because this is where my boyfriend’s (Fil-Am) family comes from.
Boracay – this place gives me absolute freedom to dance
Palawan (El Nido and Coron) – the limestones and lagoons are amazing!
P.S. I also love Baguio. I’ve never been to New York and maybe if I go there, Washington D.C. will be removed from the list, haha.
Escaping the winds, worshipping the sun….
Remember what your mama told you that strokes of misfortune can be blessings in return? This is what I felt when – by a funny twist of fate – we ended up in sunny Boracay instead. I was still recovering from the disappointment of a postponed trip to windswept Batanes, still one of the dream places on my book. But seeing the familiar sights of the Philippines’ most famous and beautiful beach was enough to make my heart a-flutter. Who can complain??
Off to Batanes …. not!
We were supposed to go to Batanes but only got as far as admiring this poster at the airport:
As expected, bad weather prevented our group from pushing through with the trip. I totally understood… would rather skip the flight than do a John F. Kennedy Jr.
Still, I couldn’t help but feel envious at travellers like Jake Versoza who took this lovely Batanes photo ….
A ‘lechon’ pizza…. because pork fat rules!
If you’re foreign to the country and you don’t know how Pinoys have reinvented the classic Italian pizza, a visit to popular fastfood chain Greenwich is in order. Greenwich has pretty much captured the Pinoy tastebuds when it comes to interpreting Italian classics this side of Venezia .. those snooty Italians may cringe and cower, but this is the Philippines – home of the garlic rice, ‘dirty ice cream,’ bananacue, grilled chicken *ass, and that sweet-tasting Jollibee spaghetti.. hetcetera hetceteroo.
We got an invite to have a preview of Greenwich’s line-up for Christmas aptly titled “Deliciously Merry Feast.” The star of the show was the Lechon Pizza which blogger Ruy positively wrote about and whetted our appetites all the more. A drive to the busy finance district of Ayala Avenue was in order. Turns out the crowd that afternoon was elbow-to-elbow and it was hard for this latecomer to find a table actually….
Is technology anti-family?
Here’s a reprint of my Manila Bulletin Technews Blog-O-Rama column for 26 November 2007:
The title of this article is inspired by a friend who commented that buying her son a Sony PSP Portable didn’t do them good after all.
This is brought by the fact that her son had become “anti-social” after being glued to his PSP for hours on end. My friend said the son was not his lively, prancing self because he was concentrating on his game-playing; he hardly talked and if he did, it was to mumble unsatisfactory one-liners.
This was not actually the first-time that I’ve heard such complaint from my lady buddies who are mothers, too. I certainly thought long and hard before I bought my son his early Christmas gift of Playstation 2 last week. I had to extract a promise from him that he would only play for a certain number of hours and his studies would still take priority. If you notice, PS2 is quite obsolete already but it is also intentional on my part not to spoil my city-bred kids with the latest gadgets, having grown-up in my time kicking ball in the open field and communing with nature in our house by the sea. If I have to choose between computers and sports, I’d go for the latter anytime.
How to prepare for Christmas
The thought of Christmas engulfs people with giddy anticipation, and most specially in the Philippines. We don’t have a Thanksgiving holiday to speak of but we certainly make a big deal out of Christmas – an opportune time for gift-giving, family reunions and spreading cheer all around. Here’s how to make this busy and frantic season merry and bright:
1. Draw up sensible lists. The list should not only include the people you want to give gifts to but also your holiday budget and what items comprise your holiday menu. Christmas is when people suffer from acute lack of time due to parties, shopping and other demands so making up lists is very helpful.
2. Shop early. Makes sense right? But how many among us are guilty of cramming at the last minute and in the process making wrong or inappropriate choices for gifts? On the opposite end are people who shop as early as July. Just make sure you don’t change your mind and spend double.
3. Get fit a few months before. To offset all the binge-ing during the holidays, and be ready for all the walking and jostling in Manila’s crowded shopping places like Divisoria. Christmas shopping takes a lot of strength, we tell ya.
Pico de Loro Cove, sans a mountain to climb
Pico de Loro is quite popular among my mountain-climbing friends. I don’t have any narratives to share. During a recent visit , I only saw the beach and the vantage point of a couple of mountains from the viewdeck. Going here certainly took a long time. Pico de Loro lies at the edge of the coastal town of Nasugbu, Batangas which is peppered with lots of ritzy resorts, among them Punta Fuego, Tali and now Hamilo Coast of the SM group, of which Pico de Loro Cove is a part of.
We counted almost three hours to reach the destination and the sea was serene. Smelling the fresh breeze and seeing the greenery never fails to soothe this tired city dweller’s soul, as these pictures would show….
The Verzio dual SIM mobile phone is here… and it’s 3G!
Having two or three phones is a phenomenon I am seeing among my friends. Plenty of reasons for this: they subscribe to different mobile service providers, they want to separate their personal phone from their work phone , or they have many girlfriends/boyfriends and carry a separate SIM card for each (ouch!) Whatever, I still think it’s cumbersome and the future trend leans towards multiple SIMs in a single mobile phone compartment.
The dual SIM mobile phone is a step in this direction. A bunch of bloggers and gadget reviewers were invited to have the first dibs at the Verzio dual SIM mobile at Fiamma Ristorante before it is fully launched to the public in December and I must say it’s impressive. The initial Verzio models are not only dual SIM, they’re also the first dual SIM phones to have 3G/EDGE-GPRS capability.
If you’re shopping for a gadget this Christmas, the Verzio phones could be an alternative. I am seriously thinking of getting one for myself. Dual SIM means you’re shooting two birds with one stone. Here goes:
Perky ETC Channel TV host Sam Oh shows off the Verzio Twinn, to retail at P12,000. This black slider has tri-band EDGE functionality, Bluetooth, USB connection, and weighs a light 110 grams (with battery).It’s equipped with handwriting recognition through a stylus, has an expandable memory (via T-Flash/MicroSD) and a 1.3 megapixel camera.
Electric jeepneys start plying in Makati… for free!
So much about driving tips. If you’re curious about what the hoopla about electric jeepneys is all about, Bel-Air Village in Makati is the place to be. To test its viability as a viable mode of transportation for the general public, a couple of e-jeeps are already transporting passengers to neighboring Rockwell Center… and it’s all for free!
The electric jeepneys will pick up passengers hourly for two months as part of its commercial and technical testing phase. The operation was launched yesterday by the Makati City Government, the Green Independent Power Producer (GRIPP), and Greenpeace Philippines as part of the thrust to “provide a cheaper fuel alternative” to jeepney drivers and make the air quality clean.
Apparently, this is just the start. “Once the pilot testing of the E-Jeepneys is finished, the next phase involves the construction of a bio-digester powerplant, where organic waste from (Makati’s) wet markets and restaurants will be converted to electricity into which the E-Jeepneys will be plugged for charging. Use of climate-change inducing fossil fuels will therefore be eliminated,” GRIPP stated.
Driving tips in Manila, a la Jelly Belly
International gourmet candy maker Jelly Belly has launched a “don’t drink when you drive” campaign in line with its launch in the Philippines (store of choice: the Candy Corner.) Methinks it’s very timely considering the rash in road accidents lately. We’re not only talking here of the unfortunate accident met by a former senator’s family but also the most unlikely story of a car plowing through a funeral procession. Tsk, tsk. Nakikiramay na nga sa patay, napatay pa! ( They were mourning the dead and they died themselves!) Only in the Philippines.
Most of us would agree that driving in Philippine cities like negotiating through a virtual war zone. Not only do you have to contend with horrendous traffic, you also have to deal with overtaking buses and pesky jeepney drivers who stop at unauthorized intersections. I’ve long remedied the situation by living barely ten minutes from where I work. That way I get to keep my fountain of youth and my s-a-n-i-t-y. There are those few times when I have to go to gridlocks like Makati, Quiapo and Ortigas but at least it’s not something I have to do every single day. In these cases, taking the MRT/LRT trains is the better option.
Manila is where you test your defensive skills to the fullest and here are some things I’ve learned driving in this crazy crazy city after all these years:
Blogging since 2004 and recently married to Mr Z. I can't live without coffee....and brown sugar.
