Hotel Mutiara

At night, when all is relatively quiet except for the rumble of the nocturnal scooters and the buzzing of the glorious A.C., the lobby of the Hotel Mutiara seems like every other hotel in the busy port town of Ambon. However, Hotel Mutiara (which means "pearl" in bahasa Indonesia) plays seashell to a host of a bunch of hermit archaeologists. Some are seasoned with time and field scars, both physical and emotional. Others are fresh buds plucked from the varied terrains of the United States of America (Continental). All of them colorful, all of them interesting.

While they and most of the city lay in peaceful slumber, some (like myself) are up and about tickling the lettered tiles of an ivory tray that will run out of battery very soon. Somehow, all of us arrived in Ambon in one piece AND with all our luggage. It's a miracle actually as we had several stops along the way. The head crab with elfin silver noggin and the golden haired T.A. runs the ship as best they could and we are all quite grateful. I could not begin to fathom the amount of patience one has to muster in order to command such a vessel. Only that I am very glad that I'm not either one of them. Apparently, there was some trouble with paperwork and such that I'm sure could be ironed out with a bit of a bribe on the right palms. Yet our journey has just begun and I'm sure that a lot more "trouble" will come out at us out of nowhere.

As the night crew gives me dark looks (in a "When is this guest going away?!" kind of look), it gives me great pleasure to announce that Indonesia feels a lot like home. The narrow streets of the port town could be found just about anywhere in the Philippines. The becak and the angkotan kuta resemble our tricycles and jeeps. The spitting just about anywhere, the screaming, the haggling, the trees, the taste for durian, the uneven streets, the unmarked potholes, the videoke, the strange men with wads of cash, the calling every one person "mister" (in our case, it's "hey joe"), the humidity, the unrelenting sun, the showers in the afternoon, the church/mosque/(insert choice of place of worship), the cigarette kiosks, the eateries, the people... glorious.

I am a Filipina in Indonesia. I am a foreigner in a foreign land. But somehow, just above the bahasa Indonesia , just beyond the smell of spice, perhaps behind that becak driver patiently waiting for a passenger, or the blasting karaoke music from the bar next door, I feel like I've never left home.

Thank you.

Madened by You Tube

Who doesn't love you tube? I love you tube. You love you tube. We LURVE you tube!!!

Although a lot of my "hommies" prefer to have more borderline porn vids up, I really satisfied with the director videos posted there. Actually, yours truly thought of taking the madness to video. But alas, I couldn't find a top hat that's photogenic enough.

Here are some of my favorite people in you tube:

HAPPYSLIP - Christine is a happy second generation Filipino-American. Her Pilipino doesn't amount to much (I doubt she can understand a lot), but her years away from the Philippines equipped her with an ear for the idiosyncrasies of the language. Those Pilipino-speakers miss and is readily picked up by Fil-Am comedians such as Rex Navarete (God save you boy!). It's so damn funny to Filipinos, but it could also be funny to other folks. Christine is a gem. I love her (not romantically). Btw, I love "Christine's Dad." DISASTER! hahahaha



LISANOVA - How ironic that Lisa's humor is completely different from that of Christine's. Lisa is a true American girl, with true American humor. Although her humor is a bit on the slapstick side, she's an incredibly smart girl. She writes her skits very well and had gone political on two videos. I love her parodies however. That's where she shines the most.



VenetianPrincess - I adore her little girl charms. She has very good editing skills. She has a story right now about how Venetian Princess went on a world tour with a box and then suddenly she needs something from the moon empress... something. It's very confusing but the visuals are great. Just don't try to find anything life altering in it. Eye candy galore!!



There are a lot of very good directors out there. Let the Mad Hatter take this opportunity to take the wonderful people who spend hours and hours perfecting a video for our enjoyment. Thank you very much youtubers. We don't know where we'll be without you ;)

Cheers.

Opening Credits

One of my most favorite people in the world is a hardcore anime/manga fan. NO, she's not like majority of the anime/manga fanatics who just happen to be "emo" (what ever the hell that is) kids. No, my girl is the "elite", cosplay veteran, yaoi-lover, anime/manga fan. By "elite," I mean she can actually read and understand Nihongo. I suspect that her love for anime/manga/japanese art made her keep a spot in the NBSB (No-boyfriend-since-birth) Club at the budding age of 24. It's rather unfortunate as she's got a nice pair of racks (bigger than mine!).

Anyway, my good-friend/sister Anna and I got to talking about her FAVORITE band in the entire world: L'Arc-en-Ciel which she swears is the greatest band in the whole world! The group has four male members, where the lead singer and the drummer are suspected to have been making googley eyes at each other in concerts.
Surely, there aren't any doubts that these boys (who are a bit too girly for me) are the GREATEST band in world, says my sister. To be fair, according to wiki: The group has sold over 15 million albums, 30 million singles, and millions of other units, such as videos.

If these boys performed as good as their statistics, I wouldn't have any problems with them LOL. Well, I have heard them play and it's actually really good. They seem to have put a lot of thought into their songs which is how it should be. More song, less hair. If you have more hair AND more song, than that's better indeed!

I just googled this, so I have no idea what year this pic was taken. They do look hot though.

Screenshot of a 2007 song Daybreak's Bell

In honor of my good sister, Anna, You can view one of L'arc-en-ciel's most popular songs (Driver's High) which served as the opening theme song of the anime Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO). It is the coolest opening credits ever! The opening of the song is a car revving, BUT, you see the toilet flushing! How creative is this!!! The coolest driver side!!! Enjoy ^__^






LINK-en-ciel:
Fansite (exclusively L'arc-en-ciel) : http://larcenciel.vox.com
Fansite (jrock general) : http://hydevilist.wordpress.com
Fan fiction (recommended) : http://arachnoid.reverie-noire.com/larcenciel.php

Thanks to ALTE5 of you tube for the video.


BTW, this is what yaoi means:



Yeah, they are an ALL-MALE band. And they are nearly kissing. But it's all good.