First Love

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Finding success in Vancouver after two decades of trying different occupations, risk analyst Nick (Aga Muhlach) decides to liquidate all of his shares at his company so he can leave them to Simon (Edward Barber). Optimist Ali (Bea Alonzo) works at a bookstore where she also sells her own postcards. She wants to be a nature photographer, but her ailment makes her wary of thinking about long-term goals. Even so, she is still hopeful that she will eventually find a compatible heart donor one day. Fate brings them together, leading them to meet and get to know one another better. But in a love story where the risk of losing one another is at an all-time high, would it be wise to bet and invest?

Lungs (9 Works Theatrical)

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Man (Jake Cuenca) and Woman (Sab Jose) reflect on whether it would be responsible for them to procreate and introduce another human being to the world. She cites publications as well as her PhD papers on how adding another baby to the planet’s booming population would eventually contribute to the world’s dwindling resources. He is puzzled and seems regretful to have asked. As the two exchange points of view regarding interweaving themes such as parenthood, childbirth, as well as timely issues such as climate change, the couple discover things about one another that they won’t necessarily like. Will their similarities triumph for them to end up as proud parents of their own child or will their differences overcome everything they have shared so far and lead to a bad breakup?

Venom

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Bioengineering giant Life Foundation has found extraterrestrial lifeforms called symbiotes and takes them back to Earth. As their spacecraft crash lands in a forest in Borneo, one of the aliens breaks loose and hops from host to host until it makes its way all the way to San Francisco. Investigative journalist Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is assigned to interview the corporation’s CEO Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed). Using his lawyer girlfriend Anne Weying’s (Michelle Williams) access to classified information, he grills the executive and gets fired in the process. She also breaks up with him after getting dismissed from her own job. Caught in a downward spiral, he seeks revenge by breaking into the lab, but gets infected by one of the symbiotes who goes by the name of Venom.

A Star Is Born (2018)

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Long giving up on her aspirations as a singer/songwriter, Ally (Lady Gaga) works as a waitress in the morning and sidelines as the intermission act in a drag bar after shift. Drunk and high after a big concert, country superstar Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) finds himself in the same venue, watching Ally perform her own rendition of La Vie en Rose. He spots not only a potential love interest, but also a promising talent that can make it big if given the chance. The two spend the night bar hopping and grocery shopping. When he asks her to sing one of her original compositions at his concert, what follows is a whirlwind romance leading to a rapid ascent to superstardom. As one career skyrockets, the other nosedives. Will fame eventually cause their romance’s downfall?

Exes Baggage

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Pia (Angelica Panganiban) and Nix (Carlo Aquino) meet at a club. She is drunk and pushy. He is shy and socially awkward. After a few more drinks they start openly lambasting one another’s Facebook account. He takes her home so she won’t have to drive and ends up having breakfast at her place. Courtship follows until the two of them finally become a couple. And they lived happily ever after. NOT. To him, she is a rebound romance. To her, he is another chance at love. As they get to know each other and find out secret hang-ups with exes and the like, they realize that they don’t know one another that well after all. Once the honeymoon stage is over, they decide to break up. Two years later, they meet again. Will sparks fly once more or will they finally get the closure that both of them need.

[WASHINGTON] Budget and Itinerary

SATURDAY: 29 September 2018

Asiana (Manila - Seattle - Manila) - 696.00

City Hostel Seattle (2 Nights) - 95.00

McDonalds (Vanilla Cone) - 2.19

Chihuly Garden & Glass (Admission) - 27.30

Mercato Stellina (Carbonara + Coke + Wine) - 42.93

USD863.42

[NEW YORK] Budget and Itinerary (4)

MONDAY: 1 October 2018

Alaska Airlines (Seattle - New York) - 146.20

Blue Moon Hotel (5 Nights) - 336.98

MTA Card (Reload) - 45.00

Perfect Crime (Broadway) - 39.50

Dunkin Donuts (Croissant + Nesquik) - 6.16

Hershey's Chocolate World (Chocolates) - 46.82

USD620.66

[MANHATTAN] Broadway Barrage Season 3

Perfect Crime is the longest-running show on Broadway, predating The Phantom of the Opera by a few months. The lead actress has been playing the same role for more than three decades now, missing just four performances for personal reasons and holding the Guinness World record for most performances as a character in a play. With tickets selling at just $32 on Todaytix, it is considered as a bargain too. And so, I decided to finally watch it. We’re already on Season 3 of Broadway Barrage. We better do this now.

Once on This Island (Broadway)

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Once on an island in the Antilles there lived four deities: Asaka (Alex Newell), mother of the Earth; Papa Ge (Tamyra Gray), the demon of death; Agwe (T. Oliver Reid), the god of water; and Erzulie (Darlesia Cearcy), the goddess of love. When a terrible storm hits the Caribbean, a little girl is saved from drowning, the sole survivor orphaned by a tragedy and taken in by a caring couple. She grows up as Ti Moune (Courtnee Carter), a peasant girl who gets infatuated with Daniel Beauxhomme (Tyler Hardwicke), a grand homme descended from the colonist French. As their love for each other blossoms, the possibility of them actually ending up together flounders, for the two social classes will never ever mix. Or is it a social norm that the gods can conspire to change?

The Lifespan of a Fact (Broadway)

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When John D’Agata (Bobby Cannavale) turns in an essay reflecting on the suicide culture in Las Vegas, the Editor (Cherry Jones) of the publication realizes that she is reading what will be her legacy piece before she retires. Not only does the article grasp the emotional depth of the story, but it also captures the zeitgeist. Anxious to publish it in lieu of their backup Congressional Spouses feature, she sets the last steps in the process in motion and assigns the task of fact-checking the story to Jim Fingal (Daniel Radcliffe), a fresh Harvard graduate eager to impress. When the fact-checker goes over-the-top, the writer becomes protective of his work and a clash of ideology ensues, a dispute that the Editor herself must now referee. Along the way they will find out that there is more to journalism than just balancing form and substance.

Frozen (Broadway)

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In the kingdom of Arendelle lived two sisters, the best of friends whose bond will be tested by a gift that everyone considers to be a curse. Elsa (MiMi Ryder) is cyrokinetic and accidentally injures her little sister Anna (Zoe Glick) while playing with ice and snow. The incident causes the siblings to grow apart, not by choice but rather by necessity. When their parents set sail and perish in a shipwreck, the crown is passed to the eldest child. As the new queen, Elsa (Caissie Levy) is forced to open the gates and socialize with everyone again despite her reluctance to do so given her lack of dominion over her powers. Just as the two sisters are on speaking terms again, Anna (Lauren Nicole Chapman) breaks the news of her plan to marry Hans (John Riddle), a foreign prince she just met who is 12th in line to his own kingdom’s throne. The petty argument escalates, provoking a supernatural show of force from the queen. Afraid, she flees to the snowcapped mountains leaving an eternal winter in the wake of her departure.

Anastasia (Broadway)

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As Russia prepares to transition from monarchy to communism, a strong and symbolic break from the past must be established through drastic measures to bring about a new era. This leads to the exile and eventual murder of the last heirs of the Romanov dynasty. Years later, St. Petersburg is now referred to as Leningrad. Poverty is still rampant in the streets. Con artist Dmitry (Zach Adkins) and fake noble Vlad (John Bolton) are on the lookout for yet another Anastasia impersonator to bring to her grandmother, the Dowager Empress (Judy Kaye), to Paris for a hefty reward. Street sweeper Anya (Christy Altomare) does not just fit the bill, she also seems to have had some sort of aristocratic past concealed by temporary amnesia. As they go through the process of leaving Russia in one piece and making it to France, the girl begins to believe that she might actually be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.

Mean Girls (Broadway)

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Cady Heron (Erika Henningsen) moves back to America after being home schooled in Kenya for most of her life. Socially awkward, she feels it hard to adjust to high school life in Illinois but easily figures out how the food chain approximates the wild somehow. She is befriended by Janis (Barrett Wilbert Weed) and Damian (Grey Henson), two outcasts who orient her about the clique setup of the school. Everything goes well until she crosses paths with the Plastics. Regina George (Taylor Louderman), in her own words, is a massive deal. Sexy, pretty, and filthy rich, she is the Queen Bee, forever flanked by her loyal drones: confidante extraordinaire Gretchen (Devon Hadsell) and dumb blonde Karen (Kate Rockwell). When the new girl gets entangled with the popular crowd, an unlikely social mix-up takes place, which is all fun and games until somebody gets hurt.

Perfect Crime (Broadway)

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Psychiatrist Margaret Brent (Catherine Russell) is visited by Inspector Ascher (Steve Blanchard) at her home/clinic after the alleged murder of her husband, except that W. Harrison Brent (David Butler), alive and kicking and with a rifle, emerges from the kitchen door just in time to say hello to the detective. About to drop the case, the investigator changes his mind and continues to pry as more dead bodies surface. However, he holds no evidence, yet all the clues point back to the direction of the Brents. As he comes back for return visits, he gets infatuated with his suspect without the assurance whether she is indeed guilty or innocent. The two go on to play a game of cat and mouse coupled with some flirting as Margaret continues to see patients, including serial killer wannabe Lionel McAuley (Patrick Noonan) who dreams of committing the perfect crime.