# 22 overload !!!

get real !! seriously, get real !! reality shows are the in thing on tv nowadays - dancing, dating, losing weight, traveling, job hunting, house cleaning, house renovating.... and cooking!  you name it, there is a show for it - even two competing shows of the same genre.

you are so hooked on one show that you rarely miss an episode. you rush home to watch it. dinner time is always before or after the show, never during the show. nobody channel surfs on the show's commercial breaks. the show? masterchef (australia) - the reality show to beat in your household!  it is season two that is being aired at the start of summer. you are there from episode one. fourteen weeks and eighty-four episodes later, you are still there. it is now down to two contestants and the title is up for grabs.  as a special treat on the final weekend, the network airs old episodes hour after hour after hour leading up to the grand season finale.  a masterchef marathon is what it is - two days of non-stop kitchen olympics, two days of culinary overload.  you wake up on saturday morning to the show's theme song. you go along your day, going in and out of the house. each time you get a break, you turn on the tv. they are still battling it out in the kitchen.  you start winding down for the night and get settled in front of the tv for more gastronomic matchups. you wake up in the middle of the night and a team challenge is underway.  it is the same on sunday.  you start thinking overload is too subtle a word for this marathon.

a virtual bond is formed between you and all 24 contestants over the fourteen weeks of daily shows plus replays.  you have never cheered for tv personalities as you have for these amateurs. it is hard to see one go after an elimination round.

glimpses of sydney's famous landmarks shown in the background in almost all of the episodes stir up memories of a grand sydney vacation several years back.  the memory recall makes the show even more a hands-down favorite.

a rain of confetti is released after the new masterchef is announced. he breaks down while everybody gathers around him. you cheer, too. you celebrate yet you feel sad it is all over. the kids say it will be different without their favorite show.  it has become a part of their day.  you tell them they can start on their homework early now. one thing is certain. the show has awakened a dormant potential for some form of culinary exploits. you know there will be some real masterchef action in your kitchen soon.  isn't that awesome?

# 21 spellbound !!!

you have yet to read his books.  you are introduced to one of his works;  it comes with a good recommendation.  a must read you are told. you put it aside thinking you would come back for it sometime. it would take months. there are other titles more appealing, more covers on the shelf that seem to beckon you like a lighthouse to a passing ship. his books can wait. or so you thought.  one day, you get curious and finally open his book.  the prologue holds promise.

such promise indeed !! nail-biting suspense, heart-thumping thriller, cliff-hanging storyline, bone-chilling drama, mind-twisting whodunits - okay, enough said of meltzer's books.

captive - that's you after reading his first book. you are held hostage by the pages. you have errands to do but you can't do anything else until the last page has been flipped. the last line finally brings you that sigh of relief as you dab the sweat off your brows.  calm now, you tell your beating heart, it is over. the good guy has won - wounded, dazed and bloodied but victorious. you know you have to get a hold of his other books and you know exactly where to go.

booksale is a haven for book hounds whose tight budgets forbid them to buy new books. this nook has treats for everyone - fiction, non-fiction, soft bounds, hard bounds, cookbooks, maps, children's books, magazines, review books.  it takes a lot of searching but you find a couple more of meltzer's books here. you swoop them up and head straight to the cashier.

there is only one book missing in your meltzer collection. you know you will find it the next time you go to booksale. a good price for a good read. isn't that awesome?

# 20 swift like taylor !!!

meet the crew:
gugud - president
yangi  - vice-president
wawa - secretary
tete    - honorary on-and-off member

collectively and exclusively, they are the members of the taylor swift fans club, local neighborhood chapter.  they breathe taylor.  they are taylor-made.

all four club members are in the car.  one of them plays a taylor song on her cellphone and everybody sings along. the song is new to your ears. it is taylor's latest release, they say. the kids sing out the lyrics from start to finish. it is amazing how these kids are quick to learn a new taylor swift song.  they only need to listen to it once and their inner ear stores the lyrics on default. the next time they hit the play button, an impromptu sing-along is launched.  kids nowadays do not need to look up lyrics, they just retrieve it from the memory disk stored in their inner ear. just like kids nowadays do not read instruction manuals. they know how to operate gadgets straight out of the box.   they are swift that way. just like taylor. 

yangi peruses a taylor fan magazine. she informs us that more shows are being cancelled as taylor is still battling bronchitis.

 gugud has a complete collection of taylor's CD releases.  emulating taylor's likeness, gugud opted to have guitar lessons during the summer.  slowed down by several distractions, her  taylor swift showpiece of a song will have to wait another summer while her guitar gathers dust.

when taylor visited the philippines early this year as part of her asian tour, we flew all the way to manila to watch the show.  let me rephrase that - the kids watched the show; we stayed outside the concert venue waiting for them. the tatti-sponsored tickets were only good for the four kids. putting her index finger and thumb an inch apart, wawa said 'taylor was this small' from where they were seated. so small that she almost looked like an ant, she said.   miniature taylor had tete, yangi and gugud jumping and  screaming themselves hoarse.  it is their taylor onstage after all !! no matter how lilliputian she may be, no scream can be loud enough. at its peak, the decibel level inside the coliseum could easily match that of a 100,000-strong audience. the venue only has a 16,500 capacity with the SRO crowd stretching it out to 20,000.

it is a breather to have a celebrity who is well-grounded. young stars are in a rush to grow up, perhaps blinded by the glare of the spotlights.  they forget that there are equally young fans who mimic their every move. for now, the kids have taylor - sweet, youthful and unoffending.  isn't that awesome?