Here we go with this year’s Academy Awards! I would have posted my bets for the winners, but I just didn’t have time AND I haven’t seen any movies this year…

7:32 - Hugh Jackman is hosting. I don’t care if he busts, or if he’s not funny. I just love the eye candy. Mmmmm….yummy!
7:36 - I love hearing Anne Hathaway sing. The opening musical piece is pretty good. Much props to Hugh….it’s taken some guts to do this.
7:37 - Yay, a Wolverine mention. The geek in me is so happy!
7:43 - Several past Supporting Actress winners come back to present. I wonder if they’re going to be bringing past winners back for all the awards. If so, the audience is gonna get a lot of exercise sitting and standing for those ovations. With that said, I love that the nominated actresses are getting such a wonderful introduction by these women. Also, is it just me, or are all the nominees on the verge of crying?
7:47 - Penelope Cruz wins! I’m so happy…I remember seeing her in a movie for the first time, almost a decade ago, in a movie where she was just a young woman. Even then she was amazing, and you couldn’t take your eyes off her. It’s good to see her to get rewarded for her hard work.
7:57 - Milk wins for Best Original Screenplay…great, inspiring speech but Dustin Lance Black. If I could get the transcript, I’d write it here. Maybe I will later. I’m torn about which movie I want to win - Slumdog Millionaire or Milk. Both would make an incredible statement. Here’s part of Black’s speech:

“If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours,

8:19 - I’ve zoned out for a bit, entertaining Ben and trying to figure out where to have his birthday party…
8:25 - Robert Pattinson looks like a vampire. Perfect casting, Twilight.
8:31 - I can never get tired of seeing Natalie Portman…she’s incredible. I just wish she’d live up to the potential we saw in The Professional. The thing with Ben Stiller was a little weird, though…
8:38 - Jessica Biel’s face looks beautiful, but her dress looks a little weird. The bottom looked a little off - if it was on Project Runway, the judges would have complained about it didn’t fit right at the bottom.
8:46 - Loved Judd Apatow’s short film based on the Pineapple Express honoring this year’s comedies, even though several of the movies featured were dramas. Good stuff!
8:54 - I’m liking this tribute to musicals. Is it just me, or does it seem like Hugh is singing live and Beyonce is lipsynching?
9:04 - Everytime I see Christopher Walken I have to laugh. He raises every movie he’s in to another level of awesomeness.
9:07 - Heath Ledger wins…I was really hoping for this. He truly deserved this award, he truly transformed himself for the role. *sniff*
9:16 - Dude, who was the guy who was balancing the Oscar on his chin? I was talking to Dave and totally missed it.
9:26 - Benjamin Button wins best Visual Effects? What the–did Iron Man and The Dark Knight split the nerd vote?!?
9:32 - Slumdog wins for sound mixing. The recipient gives a very interesting speech about the sounds of the movie, and it makes me just want to watch this movie all the more!
9:35 - Slumdog wins again, this time for film editing. Could the little movie that could make it all the way to the end? I can only imagine how amazing, overwhelming and wonderful this whole experience is for the young stars of the movie, especially Dev Patel, who has been constantly happy the whole night. (and who coincidentally reminds me of my old manager, who was a really awesome and fun to hang out with).
9:46 - Wow, Jerry Lewis lost a lot of weight. You know who else lost weight? Anthony Hopkins. Did you see him in the audience? He got skinny! Did Hannibal Lecter give up meat? (I’m totally laughing because I think I’m clever). Thanks to Jerry Lewis for the short and sweet speech.
9:58 - Whew! Me, Dave and Ben just had a dance break during the Best Song nominations. Slumdog Millionaire gets my vote for “Most Exhausting Choreography” That was a very nice presentation, from what I could see as we were thumping and twirling around in our living room.
10:02 - …and surprise surprise, Slumdog wins again. An entire nation is singing!
10:12 - I have a complaint about the “In Memoriam” part…I can’t really see the names from the camera view we had. I hardly saw the bit they had for Cyd Charisse, who I loved. Also, I know I say this every year, but we lost a lot of good ones this year. Man, I’ll really miss Paul Newman.

OK, I got sidetracked by Dave and Ben, so I’m watching the rest of the show through my DVR…

- Best Actress award - Dave thinks that Meryl Streep’s daughter is hot, and I have to agree. Angelina Jolie is gorgeous…Have I ever told you that I’m a week older than her? Kate Winslet wins, with a sweet speech about practicing for that moment as a young girl with shampoo bottle in hand. I would have liked Anne Hathaway to win, but I have a feeling she’ll be back. It’s about time Kate won, anyway….she’s our generation’s Meryl Streep. Oh, and the part where she can’t find her parents and asks her dad to whistle and he does was AWESOMENESS…I got a little teary with the cuteness of it.
- Best Actor - Come on, admit it, a little part of you wanted Mickey Rourke to win, just to hear what he’d say. I know he’d start off with honoring his dog, his best friend he died a couple weeks ago. But that was not to be…Sean Penn wins with Milk. DeNiro gave an excellent introduction for him. Sean Penn’s speech, though not as touching as Black’s, who wrote “Milk”, and a little more damning but still had the same message. Stop the hate.
- Best Picture - Yay! Slumdog Millionaire won! It’s wonderful that the world has embraced this little move (that I still haven’t watched). I love seeing those little Indian kids up on stage, so excited to be there. A nation is rejoicing, and the little movie that could wins big.

All in all, I really liked the awards show. I think that they could have used more presenters - it seemed like Sarah Jessica Parker, Daniel Craig and Will Smith were up there forever. Maybe a more coherent musical number (the one with Beyonce was too disjointed). But it was fun. Hugh Jackman did a great job hosting, even if we really didn’t see him much AND he didn’t take off his shirt.

Until next year!

Tags: Reviews by Yano
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I know it’s totally late, but last week my Lola Dorie passed away. Now, she’s not technically “my” lola (grandmother in Tagalog) - she’s actually Melanie’s grandmother. But blood doesn’t matter in my family - the bond that we have, the “cousins” is stronger than that. I’ve known Lola Dorie for as long as I can remember. When I was little she lived next door and sometimes would babysit me. I remember her gigantic goldfish, fish that lived longer than they should have. I remember how she would scold me for playing with the fake animals in their terrarium. She gave the best air/sniff kisses whenever she greeted me. Every Christmas, there would be an envelope of money for us, even when we were old and had jobs of our own, written out to us in her pretty handwriting. She had cancer once, and when I came over for a visit, she hobbled over to me in her robe and said, “You wanna see?” and flashed me…

Last week, I was making plans with my sister for the weekend. I was going to pick her up, and she mentioned that I might want to go and visit Lola next door, and that her health had taken a turn for the worse. I had seen her a couple months before, and she seemed fine, but I agreed that it was about time for a visit. On Wednesday, I read my cousin Maui’s facebook profile (because Facebook is how I know what’s going on with people) and just from the sound of it, I felt the need to go visit Lola that night. She was sleeping when we came, and didn’t wake, but I was so surprised at how frail she looked. I could tell this was a pretty rough time for her daughter, my Tita Ellen. No matter what age you are, it’s hard to watch your mother fading away.

She passed away the next day. Since then, it’s been a whirlwind of family gatherings. We traditionally pray for 9 days after someone passes. This involves the rosary and intercessions and lots of food. I remember when my mother passed, I gained 10lbs after all the prayer nights were done. Sadly, it’s times like this that I get a real appreciation for my family, how close we all are. My aunt flew in from Cincinatti, my father cut his San Diego vacation short, and every night, the Titas and Titos came over to support the family, with food, prayers, stories and laughter. It was a little exhausting, driving back and forth and back again, with a lot of housework not done, but what was more important was being with family and supporting Melanie and Maui.

The hardest thing for me was being at the cemetery. Lola’s grave was only a couple hundred feet away from my mom’s. Seeing the people I love, so sad at the loss of someone they loved was a little overwhelming to me. I knew that Lola was close with her grandkids, and even her great grandkids. They’ll be missing her every day…

In the end, Lola Dorie will be reunited with her husband, who passed away a while ago. I was watching an episode of Scrubs last week where a woman died soon after her husband, and they talked about how they were so close that they couldn’t live without each other. I think that for Lola, she loved Lolo Sonny, but she knew that her work wasn’t done. She had grandkids to watch over, and great grandkids to meet. Once she knew they’d be ok, she was ready to be with her love again.

Lola, you will be remembered, and you will be missed.

Tags: Memories, Whine and Cheese by Yano
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Things have been a bit hectic since we got back from our Disney vacation, and I’ll get into all that eventually. Just wanted you all to know I’m still here, and I’ve got a lot of posts rattling through my head for this blog.

In the meantime, it’s that time of the year again - Redpac is heading out on his yearly Mardi Gras trip. He’s got his “What time is someone going to puke” contest going on, so make sure to submit a guess so you can get a cool prize.

Redpac’s Mardi Gras Contest

Tags: Page Update by Yano
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Hawaiian Mickey, originally uploaded by Yano.

Just a quick post - still having a great time, despite the temps being in the 40’s during the day. Luckily we’re from Chicago - unfortunately, most of our winter stuff is still at home! Anyway, Ben’s met a TON of characters, but his favorite is still Mickey!

Tags: Uncategorized by Yano
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FYI, I’m in Orlando on vacation. Just got internet today, and we’ve gotta get up really early tomorrow morning for breakfast with Lilo and Stitch, so I’ll keep this short.

• I was worried that Ben might not see Mickey Mouse, who he had been talking about all the week before we left. Luckily, we saw him on the first day.
• We’ve also seen the rest of “the sensational six” - Goofy, Donald, Minnie, Daisy and Pluto. The only ones left that he had been mentioning are Clarabelle and Pete
• Ben has already been in 2 parades.
• Ben LOVES the new Nemo show! He was quoting it all night long.
• The Disney Dining plan is an AWESOME deal.
• I’m sick. Deathly sick. I have no voice. But I’m pushing on, ‘cuz I’m a trooper.
• It feels like we’ve been here for a week. Part of it is because I’m sick. The other part is we’ve been spending long days at the parks. We’re pooped!
• Epcot is so much more fun when you’re drinking. When you’re walking around with a sleeping child —- kinda boring.
• It rained all day on Monday. Somehow, we still had an awesome time at the Animal Kingdom.
• It’s FREEZING here. They’re talking about record low temperatures here. Tomorrow they’re expecting it to be 50 degrees - the average is 70. Why does Chicago weather follow me wherever I go?
• We are having the time of our lives here. Ben is having so much fun, and we are, too.

This is how I feel right now, so goodbye!

Tags: Travel, Reviews by Yano
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