Pasay West Highschool English Week-Pasay City
Walang panahon para maging emosyonal sa araw na ito, kahit pa huling araw ko na itong makakasama si Marie, ang ating researcher ng humigi't kumulang tatlong buwan. Masaya ang aming event. Magulo, at in fairness naman sa eskwelahan, major effort ang kanilang ginawang English week. Nag-trip ang dalawa kong host na mag-camera. Si drew, feel na feel. Si Eagle di kinaya matapos ang 5 minuto sa bigat ng camera. Ang mga kabataan ay kilig na kilig sa lolo ko. Maski si Principal. Nakakatakot.

January 27, 2006- Pre-Dinagyang Presentation slash chinese celebration, La Paz Plaza, La Paz, Iloilo


This has got to be one of our toughest pre-production EVER. Simply because we were in a place we have no knowledge of, we have no vehicle service, we only depended on riding taxis, and we were pressed for time.
But the good ones, as always, outnumbered the bad ones.

I think the most disturbing part of the show was when the Dinagyang mascot Dagoy started flirting with the chinese mascot. Marie and Ate Carol, the two people who are frightened of mascots are probably thankful there weren't assigned to cover this assignment as they would surely find this scary.

But it was actually cute, heee. :)

January, 25, 2006/ 2:00am
I have this mindset of my live remote event. In lieu of the chinese new year, we've asked to come up with a chinese related event. So we've preoceeded to produce a very scrumptious chinese buffet menu at the Shangri-La.

Everything was all set, until I saw my team head's message on my phone at around 2:00 in the morning.

Call me. Surprise.

The next thing I knew, Nahnah and I were off to Iloilo for the 2006 Dinagyang Festival coverage.
So ate Carol took over my chinese food event.

It's evident who enjoyed the event.

Pussy Overload sa umaga-Fernwood Gardens, Visayas Ave.Q.C.

(Okay that seriously didn't sound right)
Let me rephrase that.

Conversation with Kuya Drew
Ako: Kaw lang ang pwedeng humawak ng pussy ha, reg can't cuz she's allergic to them
Drew: Aaaww.. she can't stroke the pussy.. sad.
Ako: Gagu

And the word of the day is...
"PROOTCH"

Bakit kamo?
Ganito ang storya. Birthday ni Kuya Andoy, A.k.a Drew at syempre, in true Pinoy TV style, gagawan namin sya ng TV special sa Unang Hirit. Kinailangan naming nag-isip ng related sa berday cum wheather boy.
Fitness freak kasi si manong drew, kaya we thought wat the hey bakit hindi natin sya paglutuin ng high protein food with a hot chef and a sexy actress. Gabi na ng mag-confirm si Angelic@ J0nes, isang local starlet. (read: bimbo-bimbo-han, tanga-tangahang girlah)
So matapos ma-late ng loka-loka, nakipagchikahan ako sa nanay niya. conversation below

ako: Tita, naghahanap kasi ako ng pedeng i-relate ni @ngelica kay drew, mahilig ba sya sa sports:
nanay: ay, oo naman mahilig yan sa sports! saka sa prootch
ako: huh? ano pong prootch?
nanay: prootch! edi yung prootch! orange prootch, grape prootch, prootch juice.
ako. ahhh. oo nga. si drew din mahilig sa prootch
prootch= "fruits"

4th Palaisdaan Festival sa Navotas
Upon arriving at the location, the reeking stench from the water embraced us along with the chilly air. I'd welcome the latter, and we eventually got used to the former. Aside from being seen on TV bitching during a live segment, my host namedropped me claiming I was a source of a certain showbiz tsismis.
Ganda.

Jewel in the Palace? Nasan ang Jewel?

Lady "Chan" (literally sounds "tyan"), lady Onor, and Lady Ching
GMA compound Castrillo grounds

Teri sa tambayan-Brgy. Kaligayahan, Zabarte Subd. Novaliches-Dog Tricks with Teri the guest host


I super love Teri! One of the most professional people in the biz. Never mind the problems we have to go through, not to mention a pasaway host that made me bleed due to anger haha the previous night, it was worth it.
I really have this affinity towards gay people haha

The Dog tricks with Mr. Randy Macalma went great as well.

UH tambayan-huling event ko sa taong 2005
Nagtatae si Eagle, IC replaced him. Ic is the gay son of showbiz writer Dollyanne Carvajal. Love him!

charms and crystals with joy lim

Timog, 2nd araw na nakasama ko sa remote event si pauleen.

montalban pamitinan festival
unang salang ni Pauleen Luna sa Unang Hirit.
Walang picture, sorry

Batangas pista ng mga pista-Batangas City,Batangas
This has got to me the prettiest city government building I've been in.

House of Santa Clause-Suva Residence-Policarpio St. Mandaluyong City

Dance series at Marikina Christmas Funtasia-Marikina River Park, Marikina


(L-R) Eagle, Jolens, Regine, Drew

Jolens & Eagle during the Showbiz banner segment

Liga ng kagandahan live!GMA Timog Gate
I never enjoyed having my events mounted outside or within the vicinity of GMA.
Yun lang

Hale and drag queens back to back!- Padi's Point, Cubao

Okay, so the whole set-up at Padi's Point was not the way it was planned.
And I know mixing up Hale and Ian and the Closet Queens was not a smart idea either, I could only imagine Hale's throngs of fans (including birthday girl MM) horrified, but Hale and the drag queens proved to be a hit.
Upon Champ's entrance, I striked a conversation and I immediately mentioned we're brothers & sisters in the church. So we already established a connection and called each other "kapatid". The poor guy is sick, with a sapin sa likod and tupperware-clad water in tow. These guys were easy to work with, with no whims and demands and I'm pleased to also note while I hardly know their songs nor I am a fan, now I think I am. :)

Jolens brings Bebong to work

I hardly work with Jolina in remote as she is typically confined in the studio, but since Eagle and Drew are on their way to Guam, Jolens have no choice but be with us for a segment featuring the bazaar at the World trade center in Pasay.

Sarap ng buhay, hay

The gay invasion in Higantes Festival-Angono, Rizal- Nov. 23, St. Clement Parish church, Angono Rizal

This is by far the most exhausting pre-production I can remember. Me and my researcher also threw a fight over this brought about by exhaustion, sleeplessness and terrible dinner. Traffic was extremely terrible and it is not a wise idea to proceed to Angono to conduct an ocular leving Manila at 6pm when you have to leave Angono before 11pm because you have to return to Manila to go to Angono again (still with me?) with my technical crew.
I was nervous the entire night/morning before the event started because a director whom I hardly work with, one of the most notorious ones in implementing strict rules is coming.
To make matters worse, Drew failed to arrive because he got sick.
I thought this is gonna be a cursefest for me but it was the complete otherwise.
The gay beauty contestants were all out in showing what they've got- fake boobs bigger than mine, long eyelashes (scary!) extravagant flowing gowns and heavy make-up! Wow! dragshow in the morning, love it! they spice up the segments.
Yay! :)

UH Christmas Cooking Pinoy Style-Chef Dennis Hipolito's House-Meycauan, Bulacan

This week has been very gluttonic week, if there is such a word. This spelled disaster for my diet. Sigh.

Chef Dennis Hipolito concocts the best sweets, and he loves what he does. His orange poppy seeds coffe cakes are way way better than the ones sold in the usual coffeshops we frequent. Drew was addicted with Chef's chocolate fudge cake. It's that heavenly. The guys I work with were like kids in a candyshop upon seeing the delightful goodies.
This is bad, and I have to thank Chef Dennis for the 5 pounds I packed on that single event alone. Hehe.

BINONDO FOOD TRIP LIVE!-President Teahouse,Ongpin St. Binondo-November 14, 2005

Regine and I vowed not to eat a tiny amount of this cornucopic food set-up. The Crew was happy though, yay.

Unang Hirit OBB shoot-Nov 9, 2005, Lexington Garden subdivision, Pasig




I'm confused whether this is Igan or his alter ego, Arn-arn.

Undas Coverage Day 1-Manila North Cemetery


Mainit.
Masikip.
Matao.
Mabaho.
Maambon.
Magulo.
Naisip ko rin na tila walang saysay.

Sa gitna ng lahat ng ito,
Maganda pa rin ako.
Wehehe.

Severed Hosts-Halloween make-up with Cecille Baun-Tandang Sora, Q.C.

OMG time flew so fast, I remember Regine was last year's victim.
This time, it was Drew's turn, hehehe.
His morbid makeup took about less than an hour to do.
The end result? ito
Random Trivia:

-Tita Cecille Baun has been nominated for an academy award for her work in a hollywood action film Hamburger Hill (1986)
-Ironically, she celebrates her birthday on November 1st
-She did everything on her studio by hand. she did tyanak, she painstainlingly attached real human hair on the baby on the lefthand side, and this morbid thing right here freaked my crew out. And mind you, they're all guys.

Oo na, na-star-struck ako, got a problem with that?


Classic Pinoy Horror flicks revisited-featuring Manilyn Reynes-October 24, 2005-Fernwood Gardens, Visayas Ave, Q.C.

A segment that I hardly remebered.

Note to self: wag uminom pag may event. Waking up with Cancer survivor/ advocate Ms Bibeth Orteza Siguion-Reyna, Alabang, Muntinlupa

Shooting 4 birds with one stone---literally shooting ito ha

Event # 1 (Live)Waking up with Jon Santos- Ayala Westgrove Heights, Silang, Cavite
We pulled out as usual, around 1-2am Cavite bound. We arrived at Jon's house and he's already up and made sure that all of us had our tummies filled with his arroz caldo and (wow!) black coffee.
John Santos is such a talented impersonator that the first airing of the segment was a hit, I think our segment even took longer but the studio was busy laughing at his antics of impersonating each character he has portrayed to even care of having the segment wrapped due to time constraints.
All in all, the coverage went really good. After we packed up we drove back to Manila.

Event # 2 (Taped)Concert session with the APO Hiking Society-Thirdline, Inc. Loyola Heights, Q.C.
Arriving in Manila before lunchtime, we then arranged for another shoot. This time the APO which will be taped as live. Meaning we're gonna tape it and make it appear as live (still with me?)

(L-R) Boboy Garrovillo, Danny Javier & Jim Paredes
Boboy Garrovillo is a funny fella he kept distracting my commands
Danny Javier does watch our show and even demonstrates one of our hosts' popular spiels. Love Anover's "...and everythaaaaaaaang!"
I loved talking to Jim Paredes-- we're like the same age, he blogs, he likes Rex Navarette and he's really nice
--
At the end of this day I immediately passed out. I badly needed the rest

GMA News & Public Affairs trade fair- SM Davao grounds, October 8, 2005, Davao City

It has been said that Davao is pouring buckets during nighttime, which spelled doom because the trade fair will be held at the SM city grounds and when it rains mud will surely be the highlight of the fair. Lo and behold the night before the trade fair it never rained, not even a drizzle, so we're not complaining even if the heat caused some of us to really turn dark and some were extremely sweaty.


Every show has its respective gimmick and ours (Magic sing karaoke) was a hit. After more than 5 hours of the countlesa wannabe singers, three generationn of singers emerged after much deliberation from the judges (our bosses) and these three performed on stage. the grand winner won a magic sing microphone amounting to about Php13,000.

Davao Invasion!


Unang Hirit Tambayan sa Davao- October 7, 2005, Davao City
Nahnah said I'm lucky to actually being able to sleep before this coverage as compared to the previous ones wherein the shut eye is actually non-existent. This is my second time covering an event working on a different team.
Hours before the actual live seemed forever and I honestly looking forward to reaching for the wonderful bed covers but I still have a live coverage to think about. Before I knew it, everything is over, the people are happy, hell the crowd became rowdy and the director commended the team for a good job.



Our hosts even got interviewed on "Testigo" a Davao counterpart of GMA-7 Manila's 24 Oras

Okay, use her up until everybody gets tired of her

Waking up with 2005 Miss International-Richmonde Hotel, Ortigas, Pasig

Teng, call (fill in the name of a certain organizer from Bb. Pilipinas here) so that she can screen the questions your hosts would ask...

Was the text message of my team head when she told me to go for this assigned coverage. I've heard about how Bb. Pilipinas being notorious about protocols and their very strict guidelines when it comes to media exposures of the beauty titlists and I have no choice but not to bend their rules. After all, this segment would certainly be a hit, as Precious Lara Quigaman is the hottest item this week after winning the Miss International title which mader Melanie Marquez snatched 26 years ago.
There were Japanese press people all over the presidential suite of the hotel where Precious was staying, I felt like they were a part of this clandestine operation or something. They seem to also be watching every single move of my crew the entire time we stayed in the suite, for over 3 hours. I felt one move and we're dead.

Then again it must be the loss of sleep and exhaustion in me talking causing paranoia. Hay

Boksingero na naman?!

Tatlong Dalawang, boksingero, isang segment, sampung oras-Manila City Hall, Manila, Bansang Pilipinas-October 3, 2005
Sa ikatlong pagkakataon, ang mga dakilang kampeon na nagpakilala sa isla ng Pilipinas ang aming tampok sa aming live remote segment sa Unang Hirit. Sa aking pagkakatanda, eksaktong isang linggo na ang nakakaraan, (mag-iskroll down sa baba) amin nang ipinakilala si Hawaiian Punch, ngunit sa pagkakataong ito ay kasama si Boom-Boom (ipagpatawad aking nakalimutan na ang kumpletong pangalan), at si Manny "Pacman" Pacquiao. Sa kasamaang palad at sa sama ng trapik ng lungsod ng Maynila, at sa sama ng pakiramdam ni Pacman, dalawang boksingero lamang ang nakarating--dumating sila kung kelan mga alas-otso-kinse na, quinse minutos bago matapos ang aming programa.
Pero hindi naman namin sila masisisi. Sino ba naman kami para magreklamo? Sarap kaya ng nakatambay lang sa VIP room ng Mayor's office na puro lokohan at kwenthuhan lang ang aming ginagawa at pakainin ng libreng burger at bottled water ni Mayor.
Si Mader Eagle walang ginawa kundi mag-text habang nakatambay, si ate Regine naman ay nagaayos ng kanyang mga ka-chuva han sa isang tabi habang nagchichikahan kami. (O diba, we get paid to do this?! Nyahaha)

Nang dumating ang aming feature sobrang dami ng groupie entourage ng Manila Mayor na si Mayor Lim (naku sorry hindi kasi ako taga Maynila at hindi kami close ni Atienza, haha as if naman si Lim at ako at close) Hindi ko manlang sila na-picturan dahil parehong puno ang aking mga kamay sa pag-eexecute ng order. Wala pa silang limang minuto sa loob ng VIP room at lumayas na sila, matapos ang halos sampung oras na aming pagtambay sa VIP room na Maynila, limang minuto silang umere. Wow.
Yes, we do this for a living and damn hell am proud of it!

Late na naman si Regine-Bellydancing in the morning-Sept 29, 2005, Gazebo Royale, Visayas Ave, Q.C.

But her Bellydancing performance as always, overshadowed her tardiness.

Fierce competition on a morning show

Morning Champs-Brian "Hawaiian Punch" Viloria, Benjie "The Package" Sorolla -Makati Golf Club Gym, Makati
The Hawaiian punch* is in town, and as always, when a Filipino has achieved something grand internationally, the media goes crazy killing each other for exclusive coverages. Our show's competition has already talked with the hawaiian punch handler but we were able to sneak away with having him first appear on our live segment, twice, whoo hoo


*Brian Viloria won the World Boxing Competition Featherweight title at the Staples center in LA, knocking out Eric Ortiz, the Mexican titlist.

The segment where a frog with a humongous head stole the show

Crazy Frog's head is humongous for his body it's a wonder he can dance with the girls. Crazy frog thinks he's hot, as seen on the album pictures where his little thing sticks out and waves hello.
Crazy frog earned adoration from the hosts. Crazy frog was asked for photo ops more than the hosts. Even the hosts pose with Crazy Frog. This frog kicked ass, but one thing bothers me: despite the dance prowess of this frog, he could not walk on two feet without someone assisting him to walk. Hmmm. It must be the head, hehe

Yaparazzi in the flesh!

Tim Yap's pad tour- 8 Wack-wack road, Mandaluyong
The highest (literally) technical set-up we had for a remote segment in Unang Hirit-ever. Just picture an OB van with 150meters long cable hoisted up to reach the 24th floor. A systems engineer's nightmare. Haha.
Tim Yap-Amazing. Hilarious. Down-to-earth. Locquatious. Creative. Flamboyant. Unique. AdorableSuper!
I could go on really, but I'm too lazy to post up.

Ang 10,000 years na garden salad



At home with Ms. Boots Anson-Roa (Grandparents' day weekend- Dr. Lascano St. Kamuning, Q.C.- I think both my host and the guest got pretty caught up with their conversation that the running time of this live remote segment took thrice as long as it supposedly should be airing. Nevertheless, based on the ratings share, this segment got a higher rating compared to the competing program from another network. Whoo-hoo!

How the longest plenary session in postwar history screwed me over


(Pseudo) Fans day ng Love 2 love season 8-Pamantasang Lunsod ng Maynila-Hay, I should have had kept myself updated with the goings on. What an irony how I work for a broadcasting network and yet I was clueless that there was an ongoing session covering by our station.
The result? we aired only once for four minutes.
Oh yeah-- the supposed "fans" weren't fans of the cast at all, they were extras na hinugot lang ni Raymond, my ever reliable researcher. Thank goodness May taping talaga ang L2L at hindi mounted by UH, otherwise nakakahiya.
The segment went well though.