In attendance during the gala performance of Hinabing Pakpak ng Ating mga Anak (Woven Wings of Our Children) by celebrated director and playwright Dr. Anton Juan, Jr. were former president of the University of the Philippines Jose Abueva, and National Artists F. Sionil Jose and Bienvenido Lumbera.

After welcoming the special guests, Dulaang UP’s Dr. Alexander Cortez admitted that his position as Artistic Director fills him with “enthusiasm and trepidation,” and lamented the loss of Dr. Anton Juan, Jr. to the University of Notre Dame du Lac in the USA as a Tenured Full Professor and Theatre Director.

Dr. Cortez also warned the audience of Anton’s “rather disturbing play,” but ruefully adds, “What is theatre without Anton’s disturbing images?” His tongue in cheek parting words to the eager audience were, “Enjoy the night. If you can.”

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Rated Film on the TV Screen It was my unfortunate circumstance to be at the cardiovascular machines section in Fitness First SM Megamall on 05 July 2008 when one of the TV monitors, which was screening a rated film, showed a scene where a trio of girls removed their bikini tops to expose their breasts, and then proceeded to remove their bottoms to reveal their behinds.

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Joanna Ampil Comes Home After delighting audiences abroad for 16 years, Joanna Ampil is all set to take a flight back home to the Philippines, where she is slated to play Maria in West Side Story Manila, which also marks the directorial debut of theatre thespian Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo.

Landmark Roles Joanna Ampil’s theatre debut took place on London’s West End stage where she played Kim in Ms. Saigon. Her impeccable voice and stage presence impressed producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh so much that she was given the honor of opening the Ms. Saigon production in Australia.

While she was there, none other than Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber himself offered her the role of Mary Magdalene in the West End production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Joanna Ampil admitted, “The pressure was immense since we were opening the show.”

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Myanmar Allows Yahoo Mail On a recent June-July 2008 trip to Myanmar, a friend emailed me from an Internet cafe using her Yahoo email address, which caused me to reply how shocked I was that she was able to access Yahoo!

According to a report during a bloggers’ seminar, iBlog3 in 2007, every Internet user iin Myanmar is required to register, and then, the Internet cafe owner will take his picture every five minutes; plus, all the pages he visits will be reported to the government, which will surely not include Yahoo or Google mail.

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During the intermission of High School Musical The Ice Tour on 12 July 2008, I went to Starbucks to buy their Signature Hot Chocolate. Knowing that its 50% chocolate content would probably attract my nephew and niece, I ordered the grande size.

True enough, when my niece learned that I had hot chocolate, she asked if she could sip some of the beverage. I gladly shared the chocolate drink after it had cooled down after some time. Then, I asked my nephew if he would like some too.

After one gulp, he turned to me and asked, “If you don’t like your chocolate, can I have it, please?”

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Aang and Friends Picture Cake - I checked out the Avatar cakes in Red Ribbon Megamall, and this is currently my choice for the cake celebrating the third anniversary of the TheBachelorGirl.com

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