If I could put everything in a bundle...

Alright, so it is the holidays and Christmas has been hectic.  And in a few days it is the New Year's.  For some reason, I've been finding the recent Christmas-es quite... boring.  I don't know.  It has become a chore.  Sure, it ought to be about Jesus Christ, peace on earth and parties and being on a series of drunken rolls, but frankly the holidays has become a period of panic buying and panic partying.  Seriously.  And to be honest, I'd rather work.  Seriously.  It's nice to work when it's cold and you're in the mood to work, not because some holiday forces you to take a break.  Why can't we choose our holidays, no?  If you don't want to take a vacation around Christmas time, well, use those points for some worthier holidays like birthday breaks and those days when you just feel like telling the world, OH SOD IT.

Or maybe I have stopped becoming like that nice Catholic-school girl.  The Christmas holidays has, I am sorry to say, started to irritate me.  The holidays give people many reasons to be stupid.  It has become obligatory and pointless.  Drivers become bigger morons on the road.  There are too many people in the shopping malls and on the road.  Where did these people come from??!!

Not that I have been having a lousy time.  It's been fun.  Just standard-issue fun.  Nothing special.

BUT --- if there's anything I love about the holidays, it's the New Year's.  I am very much into that symbolic shit-thing.  I have an article pending for electronic publishing on lucky foods for the New Year's.  Pretty interesting stuff.  And anyway, I guess I am a sucker for the "out with the old, in with the new".  I like the New Year's.  It gives me a good reason to clean the apartment.

And of course, I have had this yearly tradition which I call the Book of the Year.  Yes folks, I buy a book a few days before New Year's and call it The Book.  This year it's Eat, Pray, Love and I have to admit, my year kinda looked like that though a bit backwards.  It started with Love (it was not in Bali, Indonesia, but it sounds a lot like it!), and then Pray (let's say I am defining my spiritual path), and then -- ARGH --- Eat.  I gained about 5-10 pounds.  Really bad.  So a few hours ago I bought my book of the year called The Gift: Creativity and the Artists in the Modern World by Lewis Hyde.  Like many stories, I came upon this book by accident.  Actually, I was already clutching Chuck Palahnuik's Rant and Colin Thubron's Shadow of the Silk Road, but my mind was saying get another book!  And then I remembered that I had been looking for Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, but I saw Eating the Dinosaur instead.  And then this book with a heart on the cover kept catching my eye, and out of curiosity I picked it up.  It's perfect.

So with these in mind I though I'd put together a 2011 bundle for Jason Segel.  You know, if I knew him personally I'd give him these... stuff.  Though I don't really have "things" in mind.  It's a cliche, but it's all about the thought.  Like a 2011 care package.  Or a recommendation list.  Haha.

Okay, I think I'll start with a book.  I actually saw this on the shelf earlier, just quite above my Book of the Year, but some guy snatched it up hence I decided to pick up Hyde's book.  I do think that Jason Segel will like this book, and I do think it's a good match because I believe he is a genius.  Seriously.  Based on his career choices (i.e. not giving up amidst years of Hollywood rejection) he was initially Out of His Mind but now that he has a TV show and a list of movies ahead of him, his being a writer AND musician makes him a modern-day example of brilliance.  I think today he is Playing Smart.  The book focuses more on the music industry, and --- yeah --- Jason Segel will probably love this.

I hope he likes to read books though.  I'll come up with more in a few days.

To end this pre-New Year's entry, this song has been playing in my head a lot of times.  Actually, I am in this very strange Bloc Party mode, and I am loving this group a lot.  Earlier today my sister was watching How I Met Your Mother re-runs whilst I was preparing for my trip back to Manila.  I didn't watch it with her as I had seen it --- that episode with Lily going to San Francisco and leaving Marshall, and Ted and Robin getting together.  I saw this ep, say, months ago.  Well, I was in the bathroom and my sister was watching the episode, and it was about to end.  And then I told her my HIMYM theory: Ted is no longer married to the mother of his children and is back with his true love, "Aunt" Robin.  As the episode wraps up with Ted in the cab, and then Marshall on the steps of the apartment, Lily-less, my ears suddenly perked up as I listened to the last few seconds of the episode.

And of course, this music.  Frankly, this Bloc Party song seems to be following me almost everywhere. And I don't mind getting stalked by this song.

How to Fall In-Love

I admit, the past few days have kinda veered me off my mission to marry Jason Segel (ehem) due to, say, sentimental tendencies.  I am not sure if it is hormones or the holidays, but I have been thinking a lot about love lately.  And as stupid it sounds, the song "It Might Be You" keeps playing in my head... err, okay, I am off my rockers.  BUT --- since this is blogging about my pronouncement of wanting to marry a particular guy, and that guy being Jason Segel (seriously), I gotta keep this love alive therefore I have to remind myself --- hey, if I am writing about how to marry someone, I should take a few steps back and at least understand how to fall in-love with someone, no?

So I decided to go to the fundamental, pre-50 First Dates type of ideal and thought of that moment of realization of falling in-love.  We all have had that in one way or another; you know, I can write a 1000 page essay on my particular experience which took place in 1998 but I am now in for making new experiences in 2011 and would rather leave the past behind.  But anyway,  as far as movies go, nothing beats this love-at-first-sight scene from the movie The Legend of 1900.  I saw this movie a couple of times on HBO back in early 2000 (or late 90s), and since I have been thinking a lot about love lately and listening to Beethoven (I am such a cool gal), I am suddenly reminded of this Tornatore film starring Tim Roth.

Of course you can Google about the film or better yet, you should watch it.  It's quite good, well-made, and underrated, unfortunately.  But I can still remember my impression about this scene although I saw it, say, a decade ago.  1900 (Tim Roth) falls in-love in the middle of doing something--- he is recording music for this bunch of producers who want to make money out of his talent.  As he plays the piano and starts the piece, he looks out the window and sees The Girl.  And then his music changes.  And then his sense of existence changes.  And the girls who watch this will just want to cry.

So here's the clip.  Thanks to YouTube and YouTube account holders who have the passion to share bits and pieces of great things.  And on a last note, who would have thought of putting Jason Segel with The Legend of 1900 in one blog entry, in one sentence?  Seriously.  Me.  So Jason Segel, out of the girls who want to marry you, I am your 1900... or better yet, that immigrant girl outside the window who does not have a name... because I am the girl.  And you should be Tim Roth/1900 because... you're the guy.  Alrighty then.

Because it's almost mid-December, Rocky took a lover

"I'm trying to. It's so hard here. Brian, everywhere I look I'm reminded of her, okay? Like, she got me this, okay because I would always leave my cereal boxes open, and the cereal would get stale, and so one day I came home, and she had this waiting for me, because it keeps my cereal fresh. And now I have the freshest cereal." - Peter Bretter (Jason Segel), Forgetting Sarah Marshall

I (sort of) saw Dead Man on Campus on HBO the other day, and I was surprised to see Jason Segel there.  He looked so young... and he was pretty thin.  He and ex-gf Linda Cardellini played a couple in this movie.  Anyhow, I thought Jason grew into a fine awesome dude despite the extra 20+ pounds.  Trust me, a bit of padding is nice.

A Dreidel for My Segel

Happy Hanukkah, Men.

Hmm.  I thought I would take a break from my last "dinner date" planning mode with my last week's fantasy Thanksgiving dinner I would make for Jason Segel.  But as Mr Segel is Jewish, I guess it is only appropriate to give him dreidel and give it a spin!

I didn't really know much about Hanukkah, but --- again --- as I am writing Hanukkah-related food articles, I seem to be turning into some kind of an expert on the subject.  Actually, I wrote an article on Kosher yesterday, so with my knowledge that I only attained less than 24 hours ago, I think I can pretty much tell which is kosher or non-kosher.  I find this strict Jewish dietary laws quite interesting; some may find it mental, but hey, tradition is tradition, and we respect those who practice it (and as it does not include heinous killing and all that sort).  All I can say is I like my dairy with my meat, and I had porkchop for lunch, so I guess this makes me very non-kosher!


With Hanukkah, some people may go the kosher route even though they are not strictly kosher (hence, it is now a fallacy to say that all Jewish people only eat kosher).  But anyway, I find two very interesting Hanukkah tradition which I'll likely feast on should I get my hands on them: latkes and sufganiyot.

Aaahhh... don't they sound a tad exotic.  Latkes.  Sufganiyot.  What the heck are they?

For some reason I don't want to share what they are because I like to keep the mystery... but what they hey.  Latkes is just potato pancakes, alright?  With onions. You can top it with apple sauce.  Or maybe sour cream... which makes latkes, a parve, a dairy food in kosher context.  Aahahahaha.  I am such a geek.  And well, sufganiyot is just... jelly doughnut.  So yeah, doughnuts for everyone!

Don't you just love the simplicity of these Hanukkah food staples?  I can buy a jelly doughnut around the corner and I am celebrating Hanukkah already!

So Mr. Segel, if I would take you on a Hanukkah date, we'll head out to Krispey Kreme and I'll get you a lovely jelly doughnut.  We'll eat it in-front of a lighted menorah and snack on some potato pancakes.  And then we'll drive off to the sunset and sing"Oy Chanukkah" and "I Have A Little Dreidel".  Stick with me dear, it's going to be a lovely date!

Blimey, turkey!

I've never been to any Thanksgiving whatsit EVER; I think there are some, uh, americanized Filipinos here in Manila who actually celebrate T-day, or maybe they just want to go with the American flow of throwing some lavish turkey and potatoes party just so they can say they celebrate Thanksgiving even though the celebration involved English (and maybe Dutch?) religious separatists and Native Americans these white settlers would end up slaughtering and displacing (oooohhh).  So yeah, go Pocahontas.

Anyway, I am not in this position to care for Thanksgiving but I am thankful, and as I am a regular contributor to this American food blog/website, my head has been spinning with articles on Thanksgiving and Thanksgiving recipes.

See, I love food.  And I have yet to have a Thanksgiving meal.  But anyway, I think writing about it in the past several days have somehow turned me into a semi-expert, and I cannot help but --- for today's episode --- put together a Thanksgiving meal plan for Jason Segel!

Hmm.  It is kinda creepy.  Haha.

But I LOVE COOKING, and I watch Top Chef and cooking shows every chance I get.  So hey, I ALWAYS fantasize about putting together a meal plan and go on about the Nigella Lawson and Ina Garten route (honestly, I would rather stay my size, but I worship these domestic goddesses).

As it is several hours into the fourth Thursday of November on this side of the planet, I shall indulge myself and share a Thanksgiving food fantasy should I have Jason Segel on my table (as a diner, not in an operating table scenario).

Side Dishes / Appetizers
People don't call Thanksgiving Turkey Day if there's no turkey, so I think that the side dishes should be at least healthy yet tasty!  So... I am kinda going via the vegetarian route.  Uh-huh.  So feast on the following:

- Red pepper and soaked cashew hummus with a drizzle of white truffle oil
- A bread, chips and vegetables platter (toasted whole wheat pita bread, baked chili potato slivers, toasted cornbread chips, carrots, zucchini)
- Quinoa-stuffed portobello mushrooms
- Classic pumpkin soup with sour cream
- Salted popcorn (can't help it!  Hey--- it's Thanksgiving food)

Fowl
- A roasted wild turkey.  Yes --- not the generic type, will have someone hunt a wild turkey instead.  Apparently it's more humane this way.  If the hunting fails, it's gonna be a heritage turkey.  Third in line is goose.
- Spicy and sweet cranberry glaze

Stuffing
- Any great recipe using sourdough bread for the turkey soaked in spices, herbs and turkey drippings.  Except for the goose --- should be Scandinavian-style with apple and prune stuffing.

Dessert
- Cheese and fruit platter (rocquefort, reggiano parmigiano, sharp cheddar, camembert drizzled with honey, grapes, apples, pears)
- Pumpkin pie with sticky toffee nut and pecan topping
- Cranberry danish with home-made vanilla ice cream

Drink
RED WINE!
Pumpkin pie martini (seriously)
Warm spiced wine

So that's a Thanksgiving suggestion.  I wonder how Jason Segel is gonna celebrate today.  Is he going to be with family? With friends?  With family and friends?  With friends and lovers?  His Brofriends?  His puppet collection in his secret room of his secret room of puppets?









So far I am just working, trying not to get pissed (yeah, been a pretty BAD week), and looking forward to cap off the night with --- wait for it --- Jeffrey Jeturian's Tuhog.  Apparently a friend implies it's the best Filipino movie in the last 20 years, and seriously, in that field, I am looking for something --- anything --- to be thankful for.  I hope this movie will do it.

But Temptation Island still takes the cookie for its utter uniqueness --- because this is where beauty queens turn into sex queens!  Woot.  Thank you, Gosiengfiao.

Neurolinguistic Programming Jason Segel - Part Four

At the moment I am enjoying this huge mug of instant chocolate oatmeal and playing Sigur Ros on my iTunes --- small pleasures that I do deserve as I am down with a bit of temperature paired with a sneezing fest.  And I am in a bit of pain, a headache is about to start, but I am forcing myself to sit on my chair and work on my laptop.  Let me complain.

Hence, this is probably not the best time to neurolingustic-program Jason Segel, but I miss writing here, and it's been about a week.  I want to write here more, but I have been writing too much.  All I do is write, it's driving me insane.

But let me write down the third column of this exercise and wrap up this neurolinguistic programming thing as there are a number of things I should do in order to end up marrying Jason Segel.  Afterall, that's the title of my blog, right?  We have a mission, and we're in this position to fulfill that mission!  Yeah!

So here goes ---

I think I gave this third column the title What I Must Do to End Up Marrying Jason Segel Without Killing the Woman He Will Likely Want to Marry, or a variation of that sort.  Now this is the part I remember the fortune teller told me to do.  This column should be a logical action list stemming from Columns 1 and Columns 2.  If I wrote in Column 1 that Jason Segel is brilliant, and in Column 2 he will likely want a brilliant girl, hence Column 3 is about me being brilliant!

Yay, we're on the road towards becoming our bright and shiny selves!

But I am going to be more specific.  I am not going to write down why I am brilliant already (haha), but in true rules of attraction fashion (and I have no idea what those rules are), it is all about, well, opening my world to the world of Jason Segel.

Well ok, maybe it is not feasible I go to the U.S. now but there are some things about Jason Segel that I am not about yet.

So let's begin.

1) Music Appreciation - Jason Segel is a brilliant musician.  I am never going to be a brilliant musician but at least music is part of my life. And I PLAYED the drums back in high school for a rock band, and I could hit Hole, Alanis Morisette, Green Day (just one song) and Gin Blossom, among others.  But I haven't been in-front of a drum set for, say, ten years?  Still --- there was that time.

Anyway, remember that scene in that fun movie Love, Actually?  The kid wanting to play drums because his crush likes drummers?  This exercise is something to that effect.

The thing is I have no problems at all appreciating music; I am a huge music lover.  BUT --- I think I read somewhere --- Jason Segel likes classic rock (think Rush) and reggae.  To be honest I don't listen to these all the time because, well, my personal preferences tend to lean towards alternative, indie, ambient, all that stuff.  I can see that his taste, based on classic and reggae, is more classic; I tend to be more progressive.

So let's shall marry them together!

I think the first step is to nurture (not force) an appreciation for classic rock gods.  Maybe I'll start with Rush; now this is a Rush song that I actually like.  And then I can continue on with, uh, The Scorpions? Dream Theater?  But hey, my current It song is "One Day" by Matisyahu.  Now that's reggae, huh.  Yeah mon.

2) Muppets Appreciation - alright, alright I know who they are but I did not grow up watching them!  Unless the Muppets are the guys on Sesame Street?  No?  Well, I do know Kermit and Miss Piggy and the Cookie Monster and Elmo... wait, am I mixing things up?  Hahaha.

ALRIGHT.  So here's what I am going to do.  I will watch Muppets movies; I'll look for them.  Besides, this is probably something my nephew will enjoy... on one note, my nephew, who is 2 years-old, loves "Laura Palmer's Prom" by You Say Party!  We Say Die! and "Not Going Home" by The Elected.  But then he loves Spongebob, Toy Story, Benten and High-Five.  The Muppets will be a no-brainer.  See, I am such a cool aunt.

3) I'll start playing the guitar again and sing - I used to have this fantasy that one day I would whip out a guitar, play Dave Matthews Band's "Crush" (the version with Tim Reynolds --- tignan ko lang!), and sing the song.  The thing is, although I used to play the guitar A LOT, I can't stand it when my fingertips get swollen.  And whatever I do I can't sing like Dave Matthews even though he does that falsetto thing. So.  I have somebody's guitar downstairs, and I can get chords online this time.  I used to that exercise a few months ago when I tried playing Natasha Beddingfield's version of "The Scientist".  See, I can do it.

Okay, I am not doing this just so I can join Jason Segel on stage, maybe with Swell Season, and join in the session. But then again, why not.  I'll do an interpretative dance number instead.  I'll ask Paul Rudd to join me.

4) Watch all his movies and find a copy of Freaks and Geeks - apparently, there was this cool show back in the 1990s called Freaks and Geeks, and yeah, Jason Segel and his Broyfriends were part of it.  I had no idea what that show is.  Well, I think when it came out (1997?) I was busy watching something else --- The Practice and Ally McBeal.

But apparently, this was some brilliant show that I missed.  Watch Jason Segel sing with that weird girl "Jesus is just alright".




See, JESUS, it's not alright we're missing out on good shows like Freaks and Geeks!

Well, is this the end of NLPing Jason Segel?  Let me see if I'll come up with more.  Stay tuned!

Neurolinguistic Programming Jason Segel - Part Three

My apologies for this delay, my lovelies, but last week I got swamped with work.  Or rather, I was quite surprised that I had too much work that I spent a lot of time wondering how to actually work.  You know how it is.   Hang time has ended.  Ass off the couch.  Fingers-a-tappin', makin' things happen.

I kinda wondered if this unplanned (reverse) hiatus would affect my plans to marry Jason Segel.  I was very Jason Segel-less last week.  I never saw an episode of How I Met Your Mother, though I think I saw a news clip about his latest Muppets project (yaaaay).  It was just work, and a couple of attempts to get drunk.  The latter was a failure, but I am happy to say I managed to go on a nightout with my Finnish friend by starting it off with the uber-brilliant Let Me In and then drinks around Makati with a sweet reggae ending at the New Penguin.  I had to surrender by 2AM as I had a date with my father to watch the Pacquiao-Margarito fight at the Newport Cinemas by 10AM, a show that I was not planning to enjoy, but indeed, I did.

Now that we're done with some explanations, let's get this neurolinguistic programming thing a move on since I have probably mentioned it a month ago.  Yes, it's been too damn long, but we're doing it now, as in, right now!

So we are now on the second column which I am going to label with Traits Jason Segel Will Want in a Woman He'll Likely Want to Marry.  Ideally, the first column (which was the previous blog) should match the second, hence, Item Number One in Column One should match Item Number Two in Column Two.  But maybe that's not how it works.  Let's do a rundown instead with the obvious.

Jason Segel is 30 years old.  He lives in California, USA.  He is an actor, musician, scriptwriter.  He is very talented.  He is a celebrity.  He's friends with Paul Rudd, Seth Rogen, Jude Apatow, and those string of, well, guys who are known as the today's Hollywood Bratpack.  Or Ratpack.  Whatever.  You know, that group held by their, uh, "seniors" i.e. Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler, the Wilson Brothers, etc.  He stands six feet four.  He plays basketball, or at least played basketball.  He's rich and famous.  He loves puppets.  He most likely likes classic rock, maybe some reggae, and yes, the Swell Season.  He writes songs.  The local promo of How I Met Your Mother dubs his character Marshall Eriksen as the "Gentle Giant" (like a butanding?  Hahaha).  Anyway, that's all I know.  Maybe it's safe to say that he is a nice guy, maybe not into (too much) drugs, but he probably parties.  I remember a rumor from a while ago involving him with Lindsay Lohan (WHAT THE FUCK?).

So based on these, what can a guy like this want in a woman?  Hmmm.

Okay, I am going to do my best.

I think it is a given that his eyes will drift towards girl who are also in his world.  You know, like actresses, celebrities, models, singers.  He will probably want a tall girl or just someone who will not look like a midget beside him.  The girl has to understand his life and his celebrity, hence, the girl needs to be in that world OR someone who will NOT nag him about rumors, his busy schedule, his partying, the girls that throw their used thongs at him, etc.  That sort.  Maybe we can also say that he might like someone who appreciates some sport, maybe basketball.  Someone who appreciates his likes.  Someone who will accept his puppets.  Someone who will not get jealous of his Bromances.

Alright, these are assumptions but they are valid.  I don't know what his world is like, but based on the showbiz world here (which is pretty, uhm...), a few episodes of Entourage (haha) and TMZ (yeah, I LOVE TMZ), and the fact that I am NOT stupid, he is not just any regular guy.  But this is what we all have: assumptions.  I know someone who used to work in Hollywood who eventually left the industry because he could no longer take it.  When I was asking him general production questions, his first question was, "Do you have the stomach for it?"  I know I am not made for Hollywood, and I actually HATE the mechanisms of the local industry, so I guess I am going to have to root my own assumptions based on the idea that Jason Segel is just a regular guy who lives in a non-regular world.

I know.  Like in that movie.  What's that called?  Camp Rock?

I can make assumptions based on instinct, in those moments you see the person based on many composites.  What I do know is that Jason Segel (I hope) is not cookie cutter Hollywood.  He is having a great time, and he is a lucky guy to be doing what he loves.

I think Jason Segel will fall in-love with a girl who is smart but not crazy intelligent.  Someone who appreciates the irony and the humor in his works.  Maybe someone who has a bit of talent, maybe in the arts.  Or someone who has the appreciation for the arts, but not threatening enough that the Muppets will seem too kitschy.  A girl with certain eccentricities who is strongheaded enough to tell him what to do.  Someone who will surprise him with Rush songs or Swell Season songs or Bob Marley songs or maybe some Led Zep.  Maybe the girl plays the guitar and together they get to sing a song (hahahaha).  This girl is funny and can hold herself around his boyfriends.

Alright, above all, the most important thing about this girl is ---- she is someone he knows.  Or someone will know.  I mean, heck, if the girl of his dreams lives in some mountain community in Central Asia, it's kinda pointless that she exists in that context and he does not know about her?

Talk about ending up with the 100%-t Perfect Girl!

So anyway, my second column is quite obscure, but I think this is foundation enough for me to build on Column Three which is... What I Must Do To End Up Marrying Jason Segel That Does Not Involve Killing the Girl He Will Likely Want to Marry.  Strategy, strategy!

Alright, I'm off to bed as it's midnight and... I still have so much work to do tomorrow (UGH).