name your favorite hangouts

once upon a time, when our department still had its own online forum (a great stress reliever by the way and terribly missed by laidback slackers here in our office heheh),  somebody came up with an interesting post regarding his favorite hang-out(s) here in manila. the enthusiastic response for that snippet gave us a quirky insight of the way some of our officemates chose to spend their free time…

most respondents opted for the mall, for obvious reasons; others chose parks, pubs, gyms, etc. and out-of-town locations, while a few said they were "mahilig rumampa" with their barkada anywhere; others even opted for their own homes (familiar surroundings and all).

personally, when i have some spare time i usually head for coffee houses (e.g., Starbucks in Blue Wave); it's not about the coffee mind you — even a generic brand will do as long as you're in the right company. another place that i usually haunt is Fully Booked in Rockwell. *sigh* i could spend hours getting lost in there without noticing the time. and of course there's always the iMAX theater lobby @ MoA, a great place to sit (nice, plushy sofas) and hold a quiet conversation with your pals as you wait for the movie to start.

how about you guys?

news on BATMAN 2

katie holmes reportedly turned down a $2M offer to reprise her role as assistant DA Rachel Dawes  in the second Batman movie (The Dark Knight), which bills christian bale as Gotham's caped crusader. hmm… i say, good riddance. among the stellar cast of stars in Batman Begins, katie holmes has been largely considered as the 'weak link', so i guess it's no big loss. (*sigh of relief*).

among the rumored replacements, the biggest buzz seems to center on rachel mcAdams (The Notebook, The Wedding Crashers). well, i hope it turns out to be true. Other confirmed cast members for this chris nolan-megged film includes heath ledger (the Joker), michael caine (Alfred, the butler) and gary oldman (J. Gordon). The Dark Knight is tentatively scheduled for release in July 2008.

aussie open ‘07: it’s serena

that's right. unseeded serena williams has claimed the women's singles title over maria sharapova in 2 overpowering straight sets (6-1, 6-2). it's also her third aussie title (singles).

dang. i'm so depressed i can't even drag myself to write about it (two of the players i'd been rooting for lost spectacularly). but there you have it…

anyway, here's a droll snippet on Roddick (i got this from the Sydney Morning Herald).

…Roddick was not in a good mood when he walked into his post-match press conference. In fact, he was prickly. "It was frustrating. You know, it was miserable. It sucked. It was terrible. Besides that, it was fine," Roddick said of the loss.

He then quipped that his coach Jimmy Connors gave him a beer after the match rather than talking to him. But the press conference also had its comical moments. Like when a journalist suggested this: "Your performance here [in the press conference] is better than on court."

Roddick: "My performance here is better than on court?"

Journalist: "Right."

australian open highlights

so it's serena williams (usa) vs. maria sharapova (russia) who will fight it out for the women's finals (singles) in the Australian Open. williams defeated nicole vaidisova (czech republic) in 2 sets, 7-6, 6-4; meanwhile sharapova dispatched kim clijsters (belgium) with relative ease at 6-4, 6-2.

this should be an interesting screaming and grunting match as both players are champion on-court screamers.

in the men's singles, roger federer (switzerland) will be meeting andy roddick (usa) in a highly anticipated match to determine who will move on to the finals. the other semi-finals match is between Tommy Haas (germany) and fernando gonzalez (chile).

2007 oscar noms

yup, the 2007 oscars list of nominees are in. as usual, the list did not match everybody's expectations.

Best Picture
Babel
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Departed
The Queen

Best Director
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Babel)
Martin Scorsese (The Departed)
Clint Eastwood (Letters From Iwo Jima)
Stephen Frears (The Queen)
Paul Greengrass (United 93) 

Best Actress
Penelope Cruz (Volver)
Judi Dench (Notes on a Scandal)
Helen Mirren (The Queen)
Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
Kate Winslet (Little Children)

Best Actor
Leonardo DiCaprio (Blood Diamond)
Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson)
Peter O'Toole (Venus)
Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness)
Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)

Best Supporting Actress
Adriana Barraza (Babel)
Rinko Kikuchi (Babel)
Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls)
Cate Blanchett (Notes on a Scandal)
Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine)

Best Supporting Actor
Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine)
Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children)
Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond)
Eddie Murphy (Dreamgirls)
Mark Wahlberg (The Departed)

Dreamgirls and Babel lead the race with 8 and 7 noms, respectively.

well! at least my bets are in: scorcese, dicaprio, wahlberg, streep, The Departed. i don't care if they win or not. i'm just glad they're in, particularly mark wahlberg. i thought they would give the nomination to jack n. (not that he needs another trophy).