Yes Than Zero - Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl is back! Oh joy!

I must admit, though I’ve been a loyal CHAIR fan since the very first episode, I am in danger of getting swept off my feet by the dashing Prince Louis.

And the DAIR storyline, which I was so opposed to at first, is growing on me. A Blair + Dan pairing is not so unlikely when you think about it. They are a perfect match in intellect and verve. We should’ve seen this coming, really. Since episode one, their banters have been the best and the most interesting and everyone else’s pales in comparison.      

I’ve all but lost all love for Chuck. The bad boy act is getting old. In the deepest recesses of the feminine heart, I think we all want someone who thinks the world of us, treat us like queens and have great conversations with. Intelligence, culture and perfect manners are a plus. So, really, Chuck who?   He needs to step it up in a big way for me to change my mind.

As for Nate and Serena, they could be written off the show and I wouldn’t even notice. I don’t understand why the writers are so bent on establishing Serena’s intellect. Do they think that if they drop The Beautiful and Damned (aka Serena’s favorite book) often enough that people are going to start believing that Serena reads?!

As much as I love Blair and hate anyone who thwarts her success, I’m very excited for Roxane Mesquida’s character, Beatrice Grimaldi, Blair’s nemesis, no doubt.

 

She looks a bit like Charlotte Casiraghi (the real “princess” of Monaco) and Kaya Scodelario.   

But of course the main reason why we all watch GG is for the fashion, right? Best looks from episode 1: Serena's working girl ensemble and Blair's Oscar dela Renta ball gown! 

LA Candy by Lauren Conrad

Best friends and roommates Jane and Scarlet are new in LA. Jane is an intern for a famous even planner while Scarlet sleeps around and is a freshman at USC. They both get tapped to star in a reality TV show with two other girls, Madison, who is a bitch, and Gaby, who is an airhead.

Jane sleeps with a boy she really, really likes…but it’s complicated.  On top of it all, racy photos of them together somehow get leaked to the press.

I love Lauren Conrad and in my eyes she can do no wrong. That is all.

But if I didn’t love her and if I were pressed to give my honest opinion of this book she "wrote," I would say it was pretty horrible. But to be fair, I’m probably too old to be reading it to begin with. My 14 year-old self would probably have enjoyed it better.

It was light and easy to read with quite a few bits that made me want to roll my eyes. I did, in fact, roll my eyes. Needless to say, I wont be reading the two other books in the series. 

Best friend Scarlet is supposedly super smart. Her favourite philosopher is René Descartes and she owns a mug that says “cogito ergo sum.” OMG. ‘nuff said.     

All things Jane

I gave up on my Tudor-themed reading list on because I just couldn't bring myself to keep on reading Philippa Gregory. I so wanted to love her but, I'm sorry to say, I found her books lacking.


Moving on, these are the books I'm reading at the moment:

The Austenite in me thought it was time for a reread of Emma and while reading it, I found myself drawn to these other books. I wasn't purposely going for a Jane-themed reading list, but I guess that's what happened. Even Jane Eyre found itself in the mix! I hate it, by the way, when people confuse Jane Austen with the Brontës and vice versa! 

I often wish my life would morph into a modern-day Austen novel and true enough sometimes I really think it has! Just the other night my boyfriend was giving me a scolding that so eerily reminded me of those that Mr. Knightley gave Emma. But no, Jane's not very kind to silly drama queens like me, is she? In her novels, some of them end up married to rakes! I better stick to reading.   

Philippine Tatler's Best Restaurants CHARITY WEEK

Who doesn't love dining out? The Philippine Tatler lets you dine for a cause on CHARITY WEEK (22 to 20 September 2011)

Make you meal count and dine at any of the 36 participating restaurants, which are all part of the 2011 Philippine's Best Restaurants book. A substantial part of the sales of these restaurants will go to the Virlanie Foundation's Mobile Unit, an education and health-based program on wheels.

'Tis good for the tummy and good karma, too!

36 Participating Restaurants:
Aubergine
2/L 32nd and Fifth Building,
32nd street corner 5th Ave. Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
+632.856.9888
Azuthai
G/L Milky Way Building, 900 Arnaiz Avenue cor Paseo de Roxas, Makati
+632.813.0671 / +632.817.6252
Banana Leaf 4/L TriNoma, North Avenue, cor EDSA, Quezon City
+6332.901.3033
OTHER BRANCHES The Podium / Greenbelt 3 / The Terraces at Ayala Centre, Cebu 
Cafe Ilang Ilang (Manila Hotel)
Manila Hotel, One Rizal Park, Manila 0913
+632.527.0011 loc 1318
Cav Wine Shop - Café
G/F The Spa Building, Lot 5, Quadrant B, City Centre, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
+632.856.1798 
Chef Jessie Rockwell Club
G/L Amorsolo Drive, Rockwell Center, Makati City
+632.890.6543 
Cibo
2/L Greenbelt 5, Ayala Centre, Makati City
+632.758.2426
OTHER BRANCHES Glorietta / Shangri-La Plaza / Alabang / ABS CBN / Greenhills /Gateway / Trinoma / Rockwell
Circles (Makati Shangri-La)
G/L Makati Shangri-La Manila, Ayala Avenue cor Makati Avenue, Makati City
+632.813.8888 loc.7588/7599 
Cru Steakhouse (Marriott Manila)
Marriott Hotel Manila, 10 Newport Boulevard, Newport City Complex, Pasay City
+632.988.9999 loc 8109 
Crystal Jade
Unit 117-121, V Mall, Greenhills Shopping Center, Greenhills,
+632.570.6912 
Escolta (The Manila Peninsula)
G/F The Peninsula Manila,
corner of Ayala and Makati Avenues, Makati City
+632.887.2888 ext 6754/6755 
Felix
Unit 107 and 108 G/L Greenbelt 5, Ayala Centre, Makati City
+632.729.9062 
Indigo (Discovery Shores Boracay)
Discovery Shores Boracay, Station 1, Balabag, Boracay Island
+6336.288.4500, +632.720.8888 
Kai
G/L Greenbelt 5, Ayala Centre, Makati City
+632.757.5209 
Keizo
Unit 1-I Kensington Place, 2nd Ave, Crescent Park, Fort Bonifacio Taguig City
+632.403.3839; +632.8562067; +632.9275094 
Kimpura
4/L Greenbelt 5, Phase 2, Ayala Centre Makati
+632.6216791 to 93 
Kirin Chinese Dining
Building 7, Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City
+632.382.5333 / +632.382.6333 
L'Incontro Ristorante Italiano
207 Nicanor Garcia Street, Barangay Bel-Air, Makati City
+632.899.0638 
Le Bistro Vert
Street Side Fraser Place, Valero street, Salcedo Village, Makati City
+632.403.1841 
L'entrecote
Forbes Town Center, Unit A Bellagio 2, Global City, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
+632.8564858 
Lili (Hyatt Hotel and Casino)
5/F Hyatt Hotel and Casino Manila, 1588 Pedro Gil cor MH del Pilar streets, Malate, Manila
+632.245.1234 
Lusso Gastro Bar
G/F Greenbelt 5, Ayala Centre, Makati City
+632.756.LUXE / +632.756.2329 
Mabuhay Palace (Manila Hotel)
Manla Hotel, 1 Rizal Park Manila
+632.527.0011 loc. 1346 
Mamou
Unit IC15 G/F Serendra Piazza, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
+632.856.3569 / +632.909.5741 / +63.917.816.2668 
Masseto
G/F 114 Valero street, Salcedo Village, Makati City
+632.810.3565/ +632.338.0929 
Ninyo Fusion Cuisine
66 Esteban Abada Street, Loyola Heights, Quezon City
+632.426.0301 / +63.917.975.6077 
Opus Restaurant and Lounge
2/L Newport Mall, Resorts World Manila, Newport manila, Pasay
+632.8040733 
Palermo
Plantation Bay Resort and Spa, Marigondon, Mactan Island Cebu
+6332.340.5900 loc 1071 to 72 
People's Palace Thai
Unit 139 G/F Greenbelt 3 Ayala Centre, Makati City
+632.729.2888 
Restorante Y Damaso
2/F Greenbelt 5, Ayala Centre, Makati City
+632.729.5511 
Sala
Podium Level, LV Locsin Bldg, 6752 Ayala Avenue corner Makati Avenue, Makati City
+632.750.1555 / +632.750.5159 
Sala Bistro
G/F Greenbelt 3 garden side, Ayala Centre, Makati City
+632.729.4888 / +632.729.7500 
Sugi
Greenbelt 2, Esperanza Street, Ayala Centre, Makati City
+632.757.3678 / +632.757.3986
Thai Patio
G/F Greenbelt 5, Ayala Centre, Makati City
+632.729.0650 
The Tivoli (Mandarin Oriental Manila)
Mandarin Oriental Manila, Paseo de Roxas cor Makati Avenue, Makati City
+632.750.8888 loc 2431 
Umu (Dusit Thani Manila)
G/F Dusit Thani Manila,
Ayala Centre, Makati City
+632.867.3333 ext.3343

Miss Alcott's E-mail: Yours for Reforms of All Kinds, Kit Bakke

“Shouldn’t life be more than simply showing up? Is it enough to be part of a family, make another family, earn your living and he quietly exit? Or should we engaged and be engaged in a few acts of purposeful shaking and shoving along the way.” With a jacket flap that reads thus who can resist?

The book demands that you suspend your imagination a little and picture modern-day Kit Bakke corresponding with one of her heroes (and mine, too!) Louisa May Alcott. It’s all very “The Lakehouse.” It’s part-epistolary novel and part-collection of essays arranged chronologically about the life and times of Ms Alcott. The essays are thoroughly researched and incredibly fact-heavy, but Bakke’s fluid style and beautiful language keep it from reading like a text book.

Though mired with poverty, her childhood was magical and stimulating. Their home, Orchard House, in Concord, Massachusetts was next door to Nathaniel Hawthorne and across the street from Ralph Waldo Emerson. Henry David Thoreau, too, was a regular guest of the Alcott's.

I didn’t much like the Louisa May Alcott presented in the “letters.” The real Louisa, the subject of the essays, seemed infinitely more interesting.

It’s shameful how little I know of Alcott when she lived such an interesting life and did far more important things than write Little Women. She was a revolutionary and a reformer who devoted her time, energy and money, when she finally made money, to different causes. She played a huge role, as huge a role as a young woman could, in the abolitionist cause and, later, she became one of the most prominent figures of the suffrage movement. She was also good friends with Frances Hodgson Burnett (Secret Garden). She wrote “sleazy” dime novels early in her career under a pseudonym and had a European love affair with a younger man. What a truly amazing woman!

The book aims to introduce readers to this little known side of Louisa, to go past her most famous work. She herself hated the fame Little Women brought her and the fact that none of her other, more important work received half as much buzz. Story has it that Little Women, which she so famously based on her own family life (she was Jo March) only took one draft.

Well, I’m such a fan of Little Women, I couldn’t get past it. I wish the book devoted more pages to the story behind it. We were all supposed to identify Jo March, of course and hate Amy because she not just stole Laurie, but Europe, too. As much as I love Jo, I always secretly felt more of an Amy.

Amy is based on the youngest Alcott sister, May, who went on to become an artist. She got married and died in her beloved Europe. After Louisa, she’s the most “accomplished” Alcott sister. Although, as their father pointed out Ana (Meg, in the book) sired sons and nothing beats that. The real-life Amy is definitely more sympathetic than the book version. She shared a close bond with Louisa during her life time. Thanks to the book I no longer feel bad about being an “Amy” instead of a “Jo.”

I enjoyed this book immensely.



Yours for reforms of all kinds (that’s how Louisa signed most of her letters),

Me, a proud and out Amy March-Lawrence