POLL #2

French ingenue preference:

Melanie Laurent

or

Clemence Poesy


My heart is clearly torn because I adore both of them, but for the sake of keeping up the spirit of the polls, I'm leaning more towards Melanie Laurent. Shosanna Dreyfus is badass.

Sitcoms

Since the end of the 90's, the beloved sitcom era (to wit, FRIENDS, That 70's Show, Will & Grace, Dharma & Greg, The Nanny, etc...), most sitcoms have gone downhill. Thankfully, I've found 2 (apart from How I Met Your Mother), that have been keeping me warm and cozy in bed.

Accidentally on Purpose chronicles the life of 37 year old newspaper film critic Billie Chase (Jenna Elfman) following her break up with divorcee ex-boyfriend and current employer, James (Grant Show). After mistaking James's intentions of taking her to the Eiffel Tower in Paris for a proposal and learning that he doesn't expect to get married again, she decides that she wants out of a relationship that may lead to nowhere.

During a night-out at a local bar with her girlfriends, fellow journalist and party girl bestfriend Olivia (Ashley Jensen) and younger, conventional sister Abby (Lennon Parham), she meets Zack (Jon Foster), an aspiring 22 year old chef. A couple of drinks and even more vulnerability later, she and Zack hook up, at Olivia's encouragement, at his pot-head bestfriend's, Davis's (Nicolas Wright), apartment.

Soon after the fling, she finds out that she's pregnant with Zack's baby and decides to keep it for fear of her never getting another chance at being a mother. Zack surprisingly takes this in stride and they decide to live together platonically. What Billie didn't come to realize is that as Zack moves out of his van and in to her den... he moves in to her life as well.

While treading the murky waters of dating when you're in your 30's and pregnant, Billie has to find a way to balance dealing with a jealous ex for a boss, an alcoholic bestfriend, a neurotic sister, a young babydaddy who might possibly be in love with her, and his free-loading buddies while trying to stay on top of her game.

Although Jenna Elfman is channeling too much Dharma for my tastes, her comedic timing is still to the point while Jon Foster's portrayal of frat-boy Zack is endearing to the extreme. It has been a long time since I have seen a show that successfully juxtapositions so much heart and hilarity in under 30 minutes. A refreshing change of pace from all the dramatic shows Hollywood has given us lately, Accidentally On Purpose is a throwback from the time when heart and laughter ruled the tv screen.


Cougar Town starts off with Jules Cobb (Courtney Cox), 40 years old and recently divorced, examining her body in a mirror and finding signs of aging. She lives in a small community in Sarasota with her 18 year old son, Travis (Dan Byrd), along with bestfriend Ellie (Christa Miller) and her husband Andy (Ian Gomez), Bar-owner Grayson (Josh Hopkins), and ex-husband Bobby (Brian Van Holt).

After hearing war-stories from the wild 20's of her friends and family and realizing that she has none of her own as she spent her 20's raising her son, Jules tries to re-enter the dating world with the help of her much younger good friend and assistant, Laurie (Busy Philipps). Knowing that dating men her age is gonna pose as a problem as they like to date much younger women, for example her also divorced neighbor, Grayson, Jules plays the field with much younger men.

Although the story starts off that way, towards the middle of the season, Jules stops acting like a cougar and starts looking for the real deal. The story starts to center on Jules's trying to cope with losing her son to college and the undeniable chemistry between her and Grayson.

I must admit, although it was fun to see such delicious eye candy on the show, I prefer the episodes later on. Courtney Cox has returned to the top of her game playing overly meddlesome Jules. Still, the true delight with this series is that while it is clearly Courtney at the helm, she doesn't hog the spotlight and instead shares it with her equally talented castmates. A fun, lovable show that brings to light the difficulties and dangers of being alone in the world, and instead creating a family with friends. If hot chocolate were a show, it would be Cougar Town.

Joyful,

Essa.

POLL #1

To prevent sporadic blogging, I've decided to introduce polls to my blog.

Here's the first, enjoy and discuss. Go.

German man preference:


Daniel Bruhl

or


August Diehl


Personally, I pick Daniel Bruhl just because Pvt. Fredrick Zoller stole my heart.

BWW TV: Rent at the Hollywood Bowl

BroadwayWorld TV’s Los Angeles correspondent Michael Sterling, got up close and personal today with the cast of RENT at rehearsals for the Hollywood Bowl presentation of the groundbreaking musical August 6 through 8, 2010. Sterling spoke in detail with the show’s star-studded cast and director about the upcoming performances at one of the world’s most renowned venues.

Source.

Stand Up To Cancer

Logan Lerman, Zachary Levi, Jon Heder, Vanessa Hudgens, Zac Efron, Dakota Fanning, Naya Rivera, Kristen Bell, Clark Duke, William Moseley, Donald Faison, Olivia Munn, Audrey Plaza, Sofia Vassilieva, Andrew Garfield, and Aaron Yoo are all standing up to cancer. Join the fight.

Photodump: Friends Issue I

kuya Paul Wenceslao's birthday celebration

The birthday boy and I

Joaney and I checkin' out the crowd at Republiq

Yours truly in the mix at Republiq

Beautiful girls all over the... well, you get the picture. Ran into Bea Estrella, Abby Punzalan, and Evonne Trinidad. Here pictured with the usual suspects: Joane, Mack, and Jenn.

Here's a picture of my heart shaped mole. Ate Niccole couldn't get over it so she took a photo during my Friday morning drop-in.

Here I am at ate Niccole's bed tweeting.

With 2 of my favorite girls, Criela and Kyra during Ky's despedida.

Showing off my flexing prowess. Haha!

Crazy antics. Photo courtesy of Jenn.

Jenn and I when we surprised Mack by arriving at precisely 12am on her birthday.

Showing off just how incapable I am of taking a decent photo. Here pictured with the ever so lovely Jenn.

Again with the silly.

I am aware I have way too much energy for a photo. Here posing with Belo at LJ's flat in Serendra.

This about sums up our friendship. I am always the mischievous one. Here with Criela, Kyra and Wendy.

Eating Myc's food is definitely one of our favorite past times.

Very attractive, Myc. Go get 'em, you heartthrob.

I miss you already, Mack.

Criela took this photo of me at home during a surprise visit from her and LJ.

Criela, Myc and I on one of our strange adventures.

Persian Square date with Ms. Criela. Mmmhm.

Coercing friends to meet up with Criela and myself.

Watching the World Cup Championship game with Kalvin and Mikaela. Go La Furia Roja!



AM and I donning red to show our support for the Spanish National Team. We bleed red. No, really.

Kalvin and I chillin' like the villains we are at Jenn's room.

That's it for now, folks. Watch out for the next wave of photos coming your way soon. For now, I need to rest because I've got an early start with work tomorrow. Wish me luck and lots of energy! The next batch will prominently feature Miss Mackenzie Molina's surprise birthday party and will aptly be called Photodump: Mack's Surprise Party.

Ciao, bellas!
Essa

Relationships

Over countless days spent in long conversations with girlfriends complaining and bemoaning men, nitpicking and analyzing every single little detail; where the problem was, what went wrong, I think I've found the answer.

Men aren't the problem, or rather, not entirely the problem. In a culture such as ours, where we demand equality with all, the double standards don't start and end with us women. We've relentlessly shoved back at the media for portraying strong women as shrews and incapable of emotion while allowing men to be successful in both their love lives and careers simultaneously. Yet even as we greedily ask for equality, we wish to preserve and continue the older days of courtship. We want to be wooed. We want romance. We want a grand passion. We want for men to make a great sacrifice as proof of their love and devotion to us. How is it fair that while demanding equality, we also ask for a prince, for lack of a better word; someone to try and win us over? And when the men we pick fail to deliver, we immediately label them as jerks and assholes unworthy of our affection.

How will these men tread the thin chord of treating us equally without crossing over to being chauvinistic? We demand for the same treatment yet take it is a personal attack when we're subjected to a scolding that were it a man in our position, the "scolder" wouldn't have to worry about a harassment case being filed against him.

My point is this, how many times can you expect to tell a man he's being sexist and wrong and idiotic until he finally gives in and stops trying to prove you otherwise? How many times can you expect to tell them something while meaning another thing entirely? We women and our games, expecting to be spoiled and satisfied and satiated at all times, at all costs.

This is unfair, though. The blame isn't entirely on us. More than half the time, we do get it right: Men are scum. Maybe not for the reason we think, but for other unknown reasons as well. They take advantage when they think we won't notice. A few try to bend and subject us to their iron forged will.

The solution: Combat their wills forged of iron with our spines made of steel.

Maybe men and women aren't really soulmates. Maybe our soulmates are our bestfriends and our significant others is just someone you like a little bit more than you like the other members of their gender.

Baffled,

Essa.