Getty outta here!

Check out this hilarious photo! (For advertising folks, at least.)

Not only did this store in Fa Yuen Street filch a photo from Getty, they didn't even bother to remove the watermark.

Hilarious!

Oh-scar!

It looked like a scene that was freshly torn off the Miss Universe 2015 playbook!

In a matter of seconds, the 2017 Oscars became the most talked about, most tweeted, and most face-palmed awards show in history.

I watched and re-watched the scene all over again. It was just so entertaining to see the worry and confusion on Warren Beatty's face, and the earnest cluelessness in Faye Dunaway's.

But I still love Bonnie and Clyde despite that.

Well, at least people will forget about Miss Universe now.

Designer Dud

Most people who are familiar with fashion are also familiar with Miu Miu.

The younger and hipper line of the Prada fashion lineage, it's a cult favorite among cool girls. Among the celebrities who swear by Miu Miu are Kirsten Dunst, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Jessica Stam and Chloe Sevigny. Yes, they're that cool.

Of course, Miu Miu is also known by it's cool and modern logo, which I've always liked.

I remember the Miu Miu store near my flat when I was still living in HKG, and it was constant source of creative joy.

Now here's the funny thing. Apparently, Miu Miu has a sister in China that she doesn't know about.

Presenting, Min Min!

Yes, I found this bag at the Landmark, and it's an obvious knock-off of Miu Miu. But they wisely inverted the "u" to an "n" to avoid any copyright debacles.

Yeah, right. Harhar.

But I must say, I laughed quite hard upon seeing this bag. Nothing like a designer dud to add humour to my Sunday.

What's in a name?

Some advertising and production folks know for a fact that I'm related to the Garcia siblings of showbusiness. 

I guess that's why they assumed that this is my family name.

Doesn't really have a celebrity ring to it, unlike Cheska or Patrick. Hahaha.

FMM: Houston, we don't have a problem

On the cab ride to the office, the driver gave me the comic relief I needed after 4 days of working hard.

The driver was this big, burly man. He looked like one of those lumberjack workers, similar to Costello Tagliapietra. 

He was driving with the radio on, and he was intently singing along with the song playing on the station.

That song was this Whitney Houston ditty.



Mind you, he sang it with this same intensity as Whitney.

This experience just added the "mad" in my Friday Magic Madness. Harhar.

A cat above the rest

Today's cuteness is brought to you by this big, black cat which I found in front of the ATM machine in BDO-Emerald Avenue.

He (or she) was lying comfortably in front of the ATM machine and simply couldn't be bothered. I tried to shoo the cat away several times, but the adorable critter wouldn't have any of it. Despite numerous attempts, the cat just slumped lazily on the floor, occasionally looking at me with that "And what?" look.

Good thing my torso is long. It allowed me to bend far enough to withdraw without disturbing the cat.

As they say, you should let sleeping cats lie.

The Life of Fi

A few days ago, my sister told me this funny story that happened at their bakeshop. There was a conversation between their server and customer, and it went like this:

CUSTOMER: "Miss, meron ba kayong wi-fi?"
SERVER: (After thinking about it for a while) "Wala po, sir. Ang meron po kami, Chicken fi, Pineapple fi at Apple fi."

Now that's a conversation.

In Stitches

While talking to a dressmaker regarding my friend's wedding gown, we had this interesting conversation:

ME: Gumagawa po ba kayo ng shift dress?
HER: Naku, hindi. Hindi kasi kami gumagawa ng uniform.
ME: Ano pong uniform?
HER: Yung pang-kusinero.
ME: Bakit pang-kusinero?
HER: Yung chef-dress.

Classic!

Where is it?

A funny thing happened at the doctor's office today.

I went in to have my eye checked because my left eyelid was swollen when I woke up. But when I got to the doctor's office at around 2pm, the swelling went down considerably, and the opthalmologist could hardly see it. So, she asked me if I was sure that it was swollen.

Then, I told her about what happened this morning, and she proceeded to look closely and pressed my eyelids. As she was doing so, she said:

DOCTOR: If there's something wrong with your eye, there should be...

After that, she was lightly pressing my left eyelid while saying:

DOCTOR: ...tenderness. Where is it?

And just like that, this song played in my head.



Best. Opthalmologist. Ever.

Dead Hungry

Today's most interesting conversation was overheard in Greenhills. It was between 2 middle aged ladies (MAL) in the food section of the Greenhills Tiangge.

MAL 1: Oh, you should try this suman. It's SO good, I swear by it!
MAL 2: Really? It's that good?
MAL 1: Yes! At first I just tried one, then I ended up eating 4 sumans.
MAL 2: Where did you try it?
MAL 1: During a wake. It was so good, I went to the wake again the next day just to eat suman.

Ah yes, the things they do for suman.

Oh crap!

Presenting the photo that made my trip to Divisoria worthwhile!

I shudder to think how this smells like.

Jeepers creepers

Of all the possible times to get a case of mental block, it had to be in a jeep.

I took one en route to Ate's dressmaker to pick-up the dresses she had made. When I saw my stop, I knew I was supposed to say "para," but for the life of me, I forgot the words. The stop was nearing, and my mind was still blank.

So, when the jeep reached the corner, all I could do was shout what was in my head at that time:

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stop right there!"

Yes, the jeep stopped. And the driver - as well as the rest of the passengers - looked at me strangely as I alighted.

Fifteen minutes of funny!

Forget your 15 minutes of fame. This is much, much more worthwhile:



I don't think I've laughed so much in my life.

Let it B

There are certain words in the Filipino vocabulary that you don't get to hear everyday. We at D' Frendz call it "makalumang salita."

Today in school, I encountered one such word from Ate Fanny. While I was getting something from the top shelf, she stood beside me to help. Then, she put her arm beside mine and said:

"Suwerte niyo sir. Biniyayaan kayo ng maputi at makinis na balat."

Of course, the only thing that registered was:

"Biniyayaan!"

Yes, that's a "makalumang salita" I haven't heard in a long, long time.

G Whiz!

Saturdays are always fun days for me. This is the day that I get to teach. And despite having to wake up at 5:30am to get to my 7:30am class, I find myself having so much energy to face my 2 classes, and enough energy to consult with my students right after.

Then there are days when classes are extra fun, like today.

Our lesson was about proper interview techniques for Investigative Journalism, and we played "20 questions" as warm-up. Among the 8 pairs that played the game, one pair clearly stood out. Their interaction went something like this:

STUDENT 1: Lalaki ba ito?
STUDENT 2: Oo!
STUDENT 1: May asawa ba ito?
STUDENT 2: Hmmm... Puwede.
STUDENT 1: Bakit puwede? Hindi lang ba mag-isa yung lalaki? Group ba sila?
STUDENT 2: Oo! Oo!
STUDENT 1: Anong first letter ng pangalan ng group? A? C? G?
STUDENT 2: Oo! Oo!
STUDENT 1: G! So, group 'to na ang pangalan nag-sta-start sa letter G! Sikat 'ba itong group na 'to?
STUDENT 2: Oo! Oo!
STUDENT 1: Taga-Pilipinas ba sila?
STUDENT 2: Oo!
STUDENT 1: So, sikat na group ng lalaki na taga-Pilipinas, tapos ang name nila starts with the letter G? Ah! Alam ko na ang answer! Alam ko na!
STUDENT 2: Ano? Dali!
STUDENT 1: GOMBURZA!!!

The word we were trying to make her guess was: Gilas Pilipinas!

The Dork Side

After filling out my time sheet at work, this photo popped up after closing the program:

Apparently, our time sheet homepage posts random photos of office events, and it just so happened that one of them is this snap taken last April during our company outing.

I vaguely remember this photo being taken. But one thing is clear: I look like a dork in this photo.

Teeth is it!

Part of my annual physical exam today was a visit to the dentist. After she announced to the entire room that I had 2 cavities that need to be filled, we had this interesting conversation:

DENTIST: Where are you from?

ME: Quezon City

DENTIST: No, where are you originally from?

ME: Quezon City

DENTIST: Where were you born?

ME: Uhm... Quezon City

DENTIST: But you have foreign blood, right?

ME: My grandfather was Spanish. Why do you ask?

DENTIST: Because your teeth aren't typically Filipino. 

Gosh! After being told I look like a foreigner so many times, it's very unusual to hear that my teeth look foreign, too.

The Clooney bin

After my haircut, the girl who assisted my barber shampoos my hair, dries it, fluffs it, looks at me then says:

GIRL: "Ayan sir, George Clooney na George Clooney na ulit kayo."

Winning quote of the day

Today's winning quote was overheard this afternoon at The Fabric Warehouse in SM Megamall:

LADY: Meron ba kayong telang red velvet? Yung pula.

Winner!

Don't encourage him

Yesterday, I read an article about the retirement of PacMan. What struck me most about the article was the author's suggestion of what he should do now that he's hanging up his boxing gloves.

Really? President?

Say it isn't so.