profound bliss

Anne Hathaway is Fantine in the 2012 movie production of Les Miserables. Hugh Jackman is Jean Valjean, Russel Crowe is Javert and Amanda Seyfried is Cosette. The first official trailer of the movie features Fantine singing I Dreamed A Dream . Set to be released this Christmas, this 2012 movie production of the classic tale from Victor Hugo is directed by Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech) and produced by Working Title Films and Cameron Mackintosh Ltd. It is based on the original stage musical Boublil and Schonberg’s Les Miserables (which is based on Victor Hugo’s classic novel) set in 19th-century France, in which a paroled prisoner (Jean Valjean) seeks redemption. Watch the first official trailer of Les Miserables below. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter .

The Facebook Camera app for the iPhone has been released, allowing you to easily share photos on your Facebook account, complete with filters. It’s something like Instagram, which Facebook acquired recently. So why do they create something that would compete with a company they just bought? Follow me on Facebook and Twitter .

Ballet Manila and Manila Broadcasting Company present World Stars of Ballet featuring Lisa Macuja-Elizalde and Ballet Manila. It is going to be held on June 8-9, 2012, 7:30 PM, at the Aliw Theater in Sotto St., CCP Complex, Pasay City. Gracing the show are Yolanda Correa of Norwegian National Ballet, Paloma Herrera of American Ballet Theatre, Natalia Kremen of The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, Daria Pavlenko of Mariinsky Theatre, Aleksandra Timofeeva of Kremlin Ballet, Maxim Beloserkovsky of American Ballet Theatre, Yoel Carreno of Norwegian National Ballet, Dmitri Gruzdev of English National Ballet, Yevgeny Ivanchenko of Mariinsky Theatre and David Makhateli of The Royal Ballet. This event is for the benefit of the Project Ballet Futures. Tickets are available at TicketWorld (891-9999) with prices at P2,000 (Diamond), P1,500 (Gold), P1,000 (Silver) and P500 (General Admission). Discounted prices are available when you buy in bulk. Buy 2 at full price and you ...

So Jessica Sanchez lost to Phillip Phillips in American Idol 11. For the 5th consecutive time, a White Guy With Guitar won the competition - (from season 7 to 10) David Cook, Kris Allen, Lee DeWyze, Scotty McCreery. Jessica had her moments during the finale, though, which was topped by her duet with Jennifer Holliday of the song And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going. The duet came about when Jessica sang that song during the top 4 performance night wherein she got a standing ovation from the judges. Anyway, despite only ending as a runner-up, Jessica will start working on her first single soon with Casablanca Records. Thalia (yes, Marimar herself, aw!), who is the husband of Tommy Mottola (co-owner of the label), tweeted: “WOWgreat news! #TommyMottola just call me from #AmericanIdol & he is confirm to work in the first #JessicaSanchez CD! #MexicanFilipinoPower” Meanwhile, Phillip Phillips got the majority of the 132 million votes after the finale performance show. He was qui...

I didn’t intend to do so, but reviewing my photos of the recent Pahiyas Festival 2012, I discovered I love clicking people, mostly kids. Here are some of them. Here’s a GMA-7 reporter I don’t know the name of. He looks so young. And I have to include this despite being blurry. He’s PBB Unlimited ex-housemate named Roy. He acted and looked so gay in person. So different when he was on TV. Follow me on Facebook and Twitter .

I woke up early to watch American Idol 11 finale performance show and Filipino-Mexican finalist Jessica Sanchez made it all worthwhile She nailed every single performance, and I’m sure Pinoys, Mexicans and her fans all over the world were all happy with all three songs. The 16-year-old Chula Vista resident sang Whitney Houston’s I Have Nothing for round 1 (Simon Fuller’s pick), The Prayer for round 2 (contestant’s favorite song of the season) and Change Nothing (her potential winner’s song assigned to her by the show’s resident mentor Jimmy Iovine). The three judges – Randy Jackson, Jennifer Lopez and Steven Tyler – didn’t like Jessica’s third song. To bash her even more, they gave a standing ovation to Phillip Phillip’s performance of Home, his potential winner’s song. I’m sure, though, that Jessica’s gazillion fans will vote for her more so because the judges didn’t like her last song. Anyway, here are Jessica’s performance videos: I Have Nothing The Prayer Change...

As a side trip to our Pahiyas Festival 2012 trip, I took K to Kamay ni Hesus. I had been there two years ago but it’s always a good thing to come back and be a tour guide to a friend. It was the middle of the day, the sun was shining oh-so-brightly and I was feeling like fainting. We’re so used to climbing mountains at that level of heat, but it’s really different when you’re up several MASL than when you’re enduring heat in the lowlands. The Noah’s Ark was still under construction when I first visited the place but it was all done now and being used as a retreat house. We didn’t have any tripod and it was a good thing someone asked me for a favor of having their group photo taken. I also asked her to do the same for K and I at the doorstep of Noah’s Ark. Despite the heat, we proceeded in climbing the steps towards the Ascending Christ, which is the third biggest in the world. We passed by stations of the cross along the way but we didn’t pause to pray due to the sco...

Okay, I was sleeping when the solar eclipse was happening. Good thing about the internet is that you can get updated on things in your own chosen time. With that, I found this video of the eclipse so cool. It was recorded by the Panasonic employees in Osaka, Japan using the brand’s AF100 and AC160 cameras. The full eclipse looked like a ring of fire, but did look like an eye to some. A solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between earth and the sun, thereby totally or partially obscuring the image of the sun for a viewer on earth. An annular solar eclipse occurs when the moon's apparent diameter is smaller than the sun, causing the sun to look like an annulus (ring), blocking most of the sun's light. An annular eclipse appears as a partial eclipse over a region thousands of kilometers wide. This is also known as Ring of Fire. –wikipedia Follow me on Facebook and Twitter .

Pahiyas Festival is celebrated by the people of Lucban, Quezon on the 15th of May every year. It is in honor of their patron saint San Isidro Labrador (St. Isidore the Labourer), who is also the patron saint of all farmers. Lucban was described as a quiet farming town, and the Pahiyas Fetival started in the 16th century to celebrate a bountiful harvest and to give thanks to their patron saint. The Lucbanons during the early Spanish times used to give an offering to an anito asking for a good harvest. After harvest season, they would gather their produce in a church and they would eat and drink together. Their belief is that this kind of merry-making would please their gods and in turn bless them with good harvest the following season. The celebration has evolved overtime and has become the famous festival foreign and local tourists flock to during the summer month of May. Residents on the designated streets would decorate their houses with agricultural products as well as...