My Oscar Rant 2011

Since the INCEPTION of my unemployment shortly after a BLUE VALENTINE of ANOTHER YEAR, I've been listening to the THE KING(Obama)'S SPEECH, and hoping that a new job would serve as my WINTER'S BONE. With all this newfound free time, I've logged in about 127 HOURS per week on THE SOCIAL NETWORK and my savings have gone down the RABBIT HOLE. In spite of being born looking like an ugly rubber duckie in TOY STORY 3, my parents made sure that THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT by giving me the TRUE GRIT to bring out the BIUTIFUL BLACK SWAN of the ANIMAL KINGDOM in me and be THE FIGHTER in this rough (THE) TOWN.

My Oscar Rant 2010

Seán Saba is A Serious Single Man because marriage will remain Invictus and Up Up In The Air; since more than Nine Inglourious Basterds from The Last Station of his District had hit The Blind Side of his community when they voted Yes on the Prop before 9 and sent The Messenger to deliver his Precious Crazy Heart to The Hurt Locker. Perhaps their Avatars should be In The Loop and get An Education from The Lovely Bones of Julie & Julia. :-)

My Oscar Rant 2009

Seán Saba is a CURIOUS CASE of a former SLUMDOG VISITOR from the TROPIC THUNDER of the Philippines to what he thought was the land flowing with MILK & honey, only to realize now as a citizen of the country of CEO MILLIONAIREs/NIXON and a READER of constant bad news without a DOUBT continues to be a WRESTLER in DEFIANCE with CHANGELINGs, who with their IRON (MAN) fists are against the REVOLUTIONARY ROAD of "HAPPY"(-GO-LUCKY) people who dream of GETTING MARRIED, leaving them with a FROZEN RIVER of dreams in the cold DARK (K)NIGHT.

This never fails to push his BUTTONs and makes him want to BOLT out of his chair and hit the WALL(-E) with his KUNG FU (PANDA) moves. Perhaps he should just take a much WANTED break with Bill and visit their friends, the DUCHESS IN BRUGES, VICKY & CRISTINA in BARCELONA, BENJAMIN & RACHEL in AUSTRALIA.

(OK, I admit...this is pushing it a bit...LOL)

As a cinephile, this is my homage to
the nominees of the 81st Annual Academy Awards.

Relax and enjoy the Oscars and see you at the movies.
For a list of the nominees click HERE.
Thank you and Goodnight!
So there!

Prop 8 - The Musical

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

Spring Awakening in the Fall

Each time I was in New York City within the past 2 years, I would always try to get tickets to the Broadway musical, "Spring Awakening", but it was always sold out. So I got excited when I found out they were coming to the Ahmanson Theater in Los Angeles. The Sunday before the most historical U.S. elections, we went and finally saw "Spring Awakening", the 2007 Tony winner for Best Musical. It is the "Rent" and "Hair" of today's generation.
We really enjoyed the show and immediately recommended it to all our "cultured" friends (lol). (In fact, we went to see it again before the tour ended.)
The edgy themes of coming of age, sexuality, and suicide surely brought me back to the days when I was undergoing puberty, living away from home, in an all exclusive boys school, studying Latin in preparation for the priesthood, under the strict guidance of my religious superiors... :)

Last Dance as a 30-something

She has never admitted it, but my youngest sister, Sari's wish for her 14th birthday (aside from getting big boobs) was to have another brother. So God decided to truly bless her by sending me to this world a day before her birthday.

10 years ago, a week before both our birthdays (29th for me and 43rd for her), we had a family reunion in the Philippines to celebrate our parents' 50th Golden Wedding Anniversary. During the reception, all of their children and grandchildren rendered a song or dance number for the couple. Since the theme for telling their love story was "dance of the past five decades", Sari and I decided to represent the 70's (the decade of my childhood) with a disco swing dance number to the music of Donna Summer's "Last Dance", as our present to our parents.
If you wish to see what possibly could have been the inspiration for "Dancing with the Stars",
please click on the video below:
(Note to the judges/critics: This was choreographed and rehearsed in only one hour the day prior to the festivities and I had to be very careful since she wasn't wearing any panties...LOL)


By coincidence, exactly 10 years later, the only big show in town was An Evening with Donna Summer at the Hollywood Bowl. So my sister and I decided to celebrate our birthdays (39th for me and 53rd for her) by watching the disco queen perform live. Our poor respective partners, Bill and Richard, both disco haters, had to sit through the whole ordeal...LOL. Donna's finale song was naturally, "Last Dance". We had a blast!

A night with friends and the Lady Supreme

For the second time around, my friend Tom invited me to our friend, Nelson Lee's Annual Hollywood Bowl Party, where a bunch of friends of friends of friends (x 21) get together for a picnic prior to one of the hottest shows of the summer at the Hollywood Bowl. This is Nelson's 21st time to organize the event. Last year's party and show was South Pacific with Reba McEntire & Brian Stokes Mitchell. This year's show was Diana Ross: Lady Supreme. I have not seen her in person since Bill and I served as one of the several extras in her "I Will Survive!" revival with RuPaul video shoot shot in location at West Hollywood. (If you watch closely, you will surely see me wiggling on top of Bill's shoulders ... LOL).

Unfortunately, Bill was in Washington D.C. for a conference, so he could not join me to go to this gathering. Since it was a diva night, I invited some of my friends who I knew would surely enjoy the show.

or please click HERE for a bigger slideshow of the album.
If you prefer to view the thumbnails, please click on the link below:
21st Annual Hollywood Bowl Party & Diana Ross Night

HOME

Sean and the City

As far as I can remember, some of my wholesome fantasies involved being (in no particular order) ... a superhero, a Broadway/rock star, a male supermodel, an animal trainer, or a host of some travel show.
So for the past few years, every time I travel, I started filming myself acting as if I was Anderson Cooper or Matt Lauer reporting from some remote exotic location for CNN, National Geographic, or the Travel Channel.
When LXTV, a local L.A. Lifestyle TV show, recently announced that they were having a contest searching for a new host, I thought to myself, "Hey, I can do that!". After checking their website,
I saw that 95% of all the contestants who submitted entries already had past or have current professional experience hosting a TV show.
On the last day of the contest, I decided not to be intimidated and still come up with my very own audition video, albeit that it is, admittedly, very amateurish. Had I had the help of some of my friends, who are now accomplished film/commercial directors, fashion/costume designers, make-up artist, etc., I may have been able to present a more professional looking piece. But all I had with me was my trusty camera and Quik Pod. I managed to submit my video 11 minutes to go till the midnight deadline. What I didn't take into account is the time it would take to completely upload. So waahhh ... F+_)(*&^%$#@! ... I missed the cut-off! Even if I didn't have a chance against the pros, it still would have been nice to have been considered.
Since I already came up with a finished product, I might as well share it with you, my family and friends. I hope you like it.

LXTV hosting reel/audition video:
"Why should I be the new host of LXTV? Well, I found myself reporting about various places in this world, but never reported about my hometown. I may not have the professional background and/or back-up of a production crew like the other contestants,
I'm just a local guy who loves everything about Los Angeles!
Well, not exactly everything." ... (see ending of video).

For more pics/videos of my vaca-sean/saba-tical, please click HERE.

P.S. My Bucket List

I really wasn't excited about the New Year 2008.
In some way I've been scared to "death" of it.

I'm not afraid of dying. But since we never know when that day will come, I try to live my life as if time was running out for me. Even before 9/11, we had experienced some close calls, such as almost drowning, getting lost in the woods, etc., which made Bill draw up a living trust and me write down a "bucket list" (list of all things we want to do in our lives before we kick the bucket.) Perhaps because of these experiences, I began to have this wanderlust or desire to do and see as much as I can, while I'm still young/er.

What I'm afraid of is people I love dying on me.
Sorry to sound so morbid, but in 2007, we were surrounded by several health scares and
were constantly reminded to value the concept of "health is wealth":

The day after Christmas 2007, I got some scary news that my father, who is in the Philippines, was rushed to the ER. He had suffered from vertigo caused by an atrial flutter. Thankfully, after a few days the doctors let him go back home and with medication is now doing better.
As the youngest child born to parents who were already in their 40's when I came into their lives, I somehow always worried that I would not have the privilege of enjoying them as long as my older siblings. As I child, I would often lay awake at night waiting for my Dad to come home (which was almost always pretty late at night due to his work). Since social drinking was an inevitable part of these late nights, I would always pray that nothing bad would happen to him on his drive home. My paternal grandparents lived close to their 100th birthdays, so longevity, fortunately, does run in my veins. But my dad still drinks whisky, smokes cigarettes, and eats fried oily food. He is an anomaly, since he has outlived most of his peers who lived healthier lifestyles.

Bill's Mom, Mabel and Stepdad, Roy (just like my Dad), are in their mid-80's and are not at the peak of good health. Roy battled bladder cancer by undergoing extensive chemotherapy and Mabel is suffering from a leaking heart valve.

Mike Pohjola, our good friend, who we have been watching over, has Parkinson's Disease. All his treatments have not had promising results.

Besi, our Yellow Labrador had been diagnosed last July with Degenerative Myelopathy and was given a few weeks/months to live. Somehow she has temporarily overcome this hurdle and is still with us.

All our plans for out of town/country trips are on hold due to the fear that something bad may occur while we are away. I know death is inevitable, but here is to keeping strong until those sad days comes and hopefully beyond.

Just by chance, the first two movies we saw during the first weekend of the year were, "The Bucket List" and "P.S. I Love You". Both films were marketed as light comedy/love story films and I almost forgot about the "death" aspect. I guess with what I was feeling, both films hit a nerve and I found myself breaking down in tears inside the theater restroom.

Part of my Old Bucket List (*as also shown in the movie):
*Go skydiving - checked
*Go on an African safari - checked
*See the rest of the New 7 Wonders and other exotic/ancient places - checking
*Learn to drive an 18-wheeler truck (in lieu of race car driving) - unchecked
(don't ask me why, 'cuz I don't know the answer myself...LOL)
Run a marathon - unchecked
....etc.

Added to my Bucket List:
Visit Mike more often in the nursing home.
Spoil Besi even more.
Spend more quality time with Mabe & Roy, as often as we can.
Call my Dad & Mom more often and visit them in the Philippines at the end of the year.

P.S. I love you!

iPostcards from New York, NY - Winter 2007

Please click on the title or HERE to be directed to the posting.

Oh what a wicked enchanted big hair week!

It really was not planned,

but somehow the first week of my favorite month

ended up to be one big musical extravaganza.
We went to see the following musicals all in one week:
Wicked, the Musical at the Pantages Theater,
Jersey Boys at the Ahmanson Theater,
HairSpray, the movie, and

South Pacific at the Hollywood Bowl.

If you are not familiar with these musicals,

I made a medley of a sample of their music:
Warning: This is so gay! LOL

An Inconvenient Tale on the 11th Hour

Being a lover of animals and the great outdoors, I was deeply touched when I saw the documentary film, "Arctic Tale". A few days later, we watched the advanced screening of Leonardo DiCaprio's new feature documentary film, "The 11th Hour". Both films, in my opinion, we very compelling and well made, coming a year after Al Gore's Academy award winning documentary film, "An Inconvenient Truth". Whether you are a believer or a skeptic when it comes to the concept of global warming, I recommend you go see these thought-provoking films, in case you have not seen them. Who knows, it may touch something in you and may make you want to change part of your lifestyle and even go green.

iPostcards from New York, NY - Spring 2007

Please click on the title to be directed to the posting.

Hollywood Reject

Living in L.A, where celebrities are a common fixture almost wherever you go, I still get star-struck whenever I bump into one...
unlike some of my friends from both sides of the Pacific, who are used to this kind of thing, since they work up close and personal with celebrities (both local and international).

We get to watch a lot of advanced movie screenings and quite often get invitations to movie premieres...

Last night, my girlfriend, Shang, invited me and Bill to attend the movie premiere of the silly but good-natured movie, "Blades of Glory" at the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Shang was running a bit late, so while waiting for her, we somehow ended up in the VIP line. We just acted as if we belonged. The Event Security seemed intimidated by Bill, that they did not bother moving us out of our place where we chose to wait, unlike what they did with the other people. Once Shang arrived, we realized we had to go around the block to meet her where most people were waiting. Since we were already in the inside, we explained our situation to Security. I guess since they thought we were VIPs, they asked us to simply walk the red carpet back to where we came from (supposedly). So we just did that. Bill walked briskly, while I wanted to take my sweet time working the red (actually blue) carpet. There I was caught in between Brooke Shields and one of the main stars, Will Ferrell. The microphones were waving and the cameras flashing...then just when my turn came up to be in front of the paparazzi, (as if with a snap of a finger), they suddenly stopped taking pictures, as if blatantly asking, "Who the f+_)(*&^%$#@!k is this guy?" Hey!...I may not be as beautiful as Brooke or as funny as Will, but you do not have to throw it in my face! Hmmpph...the nerve! After 12 years of living in LAla land, I finally experienced rejection in Hollywood without even trying...LOL

All you have to do is dream

I will admit, for the purpose of this post, I have done drag a total of 8 times in the early 90's. Some were for Halloween, and some were for the mere fun of it and/or providing entertainment during a "happy" party/workshop. During two occasions, I played one of the Dreams, utilizing only newspapers, curtains, and bed sheets for our costumes. At that time, several years ago, not a whole lot of people, including some of my gay friends, were familiar with this Broadway Musical.
This very same time last X'mas 1997, I lost my first job in the U.S. (The sweatshop that was sponsoring me for my work visa, got sued by a former employee, which brought them to the attention of the EDD. By coincidence, it was time for my final papers to be signed and submitted. My employer refused since she wanted to avoid any other dealings with the EDD, therefore jeopardizing my entire labor certification application. After almost 2 years of working for small change, enduring a 2-hour 3-bus ride per way commute, and paying thousands of dollars in immigration lawyer fees...now all of a sudden everything I sacrificed went down the drain.) I was devastated...
Bill decided to cheer me up and surprised me by getting tickets to the show, Dreamgirls. He was not familiar with the show and suddenly wondered why there were so many gay men at the lobby. I couldn't help but laugh and told him to wait after the show. As soon as the opening number started, he immediately understood why. I was cracking up and came out of there feeling better and knew that what happened earlier that day wasn't the end of my world. (Someone could have told me then that 9 years later, this struggle will only be a memory.)
Last year, my company had acquired the much coveted entertainment account of DreamWorks SKG. Just for this account alone, we had to get a bigger office and hire new agents. One of the projects that was in production was Dreamgirls, the movie. Alas, when Paramount finally bought DreamWorks, losing this major account was inevitable. So I guess I couldn't blame my former contacts for not mailing me my promised invitation to the premiere. So much for having connections in Hollywood...LOL.
If you can't wait till X'mas day or for the earlier release at selected theaters, here are two funny clips that may make you wonder if there is an even bigger talent than Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Jennifer Holiday, or Diana Ross.
Presenting WonderRobbie:

One Night Only

And I Am Telling You (I Am Not Going)

Without Walls

"Manhunt for the Commander in Briefs

ends on stage Without Walls"

We went to see Alfred Uhry's Without Walls at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles on its opening night.
Laurence Fishburne, portrays Morocco, an idealistic and popular drama teacher at a non-traditional high school in Manhattan, circa 1977. Morocco, who has great skill in bringing out the best in his students, takes a confused transfer student, Anton, under his wing and gives him a chance to play the lead role opposite the prized student actress, Lexy, in a school production of “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.” A special bond is formed between Morocco, Anton and Lexy but misperceptions and complex emotions threaten to send the three down a perilous path. What follows is a poignant look at the power and the fragility of the student/mentor relationship.
This Center Theatre Group production is directed by Christopher Ashley. Now playing from June 1 to July 16.

Click here and here for more information.

Talk about guilty pleasures, but I wasn't expecting to see former contestant of Bravo's cheesy Reality TV Show, "Manhunt - The Search for America's Most Gorgeous Male Model", Matt Lanter, who also plays the first son in Geena Davis' TV show, Commander in Chief.
Matt is noticeably and understandably still not at ease on stage as he marks his professional theater debut and joins Tony Award-winning actor Laurence Fishburne and Amanda MacDonald in this new drama.
In the program credits, he does not mention among his short body of work, his involvement in Manhunt, where he had to jump out of a plane and skydive in his underwear on the pilot (and by that I mean the TV prototype first episode, and not the person flying the plane). In this play he drops his pants once again, but this time he is firmly planted on the ground, on stage "without walls" obstructing the view. I assure you it was an integral part of the story.

So if you enjoy seeing a good play and/or simply want to see a gay Morpheus mentor a cute guy in his Calvin's under the pretense of quenching your thirst for culture, go and see "Without Walls".
Note: Buy a seat facing stage right for a better view... LOL

Madonna - American Idol

CONFESSING TO TWO OF MY GUILTY PLEASURES

Madonna kicked off her Confessions Tour 2006 at The Forum in Los Angeles (21/23/24 May).
When the tour/ticket sale dates were announced, I never even considered attempting to buy tickets, since I knew it was going to sell out very quickly. Then I was surprised to hear that my friend, RV, was flying to the U.S. all the way from the Philippines, just to watch her perform. I teased him and told him that I may be a fan, but am not a groupie and not that big of a queen...LOL
Some years ago, Bill took me to a Fleetwood Mac concert at the Hollywood Bowl, and I sat beside this big raging flaming queen, who informed me that he follows the group to all their concerts because of Stevie Nicks. I so cluelessly inquired, "Why, who is he?". To which he replied, "What!... where have you been girlfriend?... she's only the greatest diva of all time!". I immediately mimicked his gestures and waived the finger in front of his face and rebutted, "Ah...ah..no way, Madonna is the greatest diva of all time!". She was the best selling artist aside from MJ, when I was going through my puberty blues during the early mid 80's.
So here I was just about to leave my office, looking forward to the watching the finale of the American Idol Season 5 at the Kodak Theater, knowing that I missed another chance to see Madonna live... I suddenly thought to take a chance to check online at craigslist.com, to see if there were people out there desperately trying to sell tickets they realized they couldn't use. I was shocked to read what people were willing to do, how much people actually paid and were willing to pay for tickets. So I had to contemplate if Madonna was worth two cell phone bill payments, one monthly car payment, or one paycheck. Bill didn't care to go unless it was U2 or Led Zeppelin, so I asked my friend, Bart, to go with me and put the onus on whatever he decided. We decided to screw it and go for it! I ended up getting us a pair of tickets for great seats for a little more than half the price of the face value. So I had to waive goodbye to my donation to the Catholic Church and contribution to the Republican Party (sarcastic). American Idol would just have to meet TiVo ...and we were off to dodge stray bullets and head to The Forum to go Confess on the Dance Floor!

Please click on the arrow at the center of the screen below
to play the video footage of the opening number.

It was an absolutely fabulous show!
It was obvious that a lot of money and concept was put into the stage design, videography, choreography, costume design, etc.
Madonna's body and that of her back-up dancers were lean mean machines!
Those expensive seats were hardly warmed, since everyone was up on their dancing feet from the beginning to the end.
My only regret is that some of my favorites of her earlier work were not showcased. I know...I could have very well waited for the DVD or for it to come out in HBO. But it was a lot of fun and worth giving up funds for a whole month's worth of a full tank of gas!...LOL

Here are RV's pics:
Confessions in San Jose HP Pavillion
Confessions in Fresno Save Mart Center

***

I gather that the finale of American Idol Season 5 turned out to be a great production as well. I have yet to watch it on my TiVo.
If you were like me and missed it, they had a guest list that included performances with/by Al Jarreau, Live, Meat Loaf, Mary J. Blige, Toni Braxton, Dione Warwick, Burt Bacharach, Carrie Underwood, Clay Aiken, and Prince.

Congratulations to the Soul Patrol and
Taylor Hicks, the new American Idol!

Ashes and Snow

Ashes and Snow
January 14 - May 14, 2006

If you like art, photography, film, literature, animals, travel, dance, music, and architecture; then I highly recommend that you see this exhibit of the work of Gregory Colbert on display at the temporary Nomadic Museum alongside the Santa Monica Pier.

Everyone has an idea that L.A. is not interested in culture, admitted the artist. He is said to have said that L.A. is one of the few places where there is a common ground in a diversity of cultures. "People are starving for culture and want to have things inspire us." He plans to continue to feed the appetite of this culture-starving world.

Gosh, if only I could have taken similar photographs during our wildlife safari in Kenya, Africa. Although, I highly doubt that I would have been able to make it out alive from that photo shoot to share such kind of inspired artistry.

“When I started Ashes and Snow in 1992,

I set out to explore the relationship between man and animals
from the inside out.”—Gregory Colbert

The exhibit closes on Mother's Day, May 14th,
so hurry and catch it if you can, before it heads out to Tokyo!
Click HERE for more details.

If you're not in L.A., check out the website.

Football

This movie has already been shown in other parts of the world,

but Mexico and the U.S.,
two of the three settings in the movie.
It comes out in the U.S. theaters on May 12.
I went to watch the screening and liked it.

GOAL! The Dream Begins

Click HERE for the movie trailer.

***

2006 FIFA World Cup - Germany
09JUN-09JUL
This big publicity ad was displayed in Oberhausen, Germany.
c/o Box of Recollections

***

Since I grew up in the Philippines, where we play Soccer,
I am more of a fan of Soccer, the real football ...
but I think I am finally gonna start watching
more of American Football ...

This image of Arkansas Razorback players
Clarke Moore, Brett Goode and Casey Dick
appeared on American television,
where the commentators paused and didn't say a word.

Not quite at par with Janet Jackson's
Wardrobe Malfunction
at the Super Bowl XXXVIII -
but still enjoyed it all the same.