[PROVIDENCIALES] Island Hopping and Parasailing

I’m going to Turks & Caicos. What the heck is Turks & Caicos? Well, you know how European powers of old went on a mad scramble for islands in the Caribbean once upon a time? Turks & Caicos is one of what we call nowadays a British Overseas Territory. Just like the neighboring British Virgin Islands which we visited last year, Turks & Caicos also uses the US dollar as its currency and will allow you to get in if you hold a valid tourist visa or residence permit for the UK, Canada or the US.

I Need That (Broadway)

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Sam (Danny DeVito) is a nice guy, but what many would consider to be a hoarder. His house is a mess and not devoid of clutter, leading him to live a life of messy seclusion. He does get regular visits from his friend Foster (Ray Anthony Thomas) who brings him the bad news of his impending eviction. The neighbors are complaining about Sam’s trash intruding public space, and they want him to shape up or leave. He thinks they are just being nosey. His daughter Amelia (Lucy DeVito) kind of agrees with the neighbors, though, and believes this is the right time for her father not just to declutter his residence, but also his life in general. Does Sam have the strength to snap out of his disorganized misery or will he end up losing his home, along with a daughter and a friend? Now he must decide what is treasure and what is rubbish.

& Juliet (Broadway)

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William Shakespeare (Joe Moeller) has just concluded his new play, a tragedy entitled Romeo & Juliet. Anne Hathaway (Betsy Wolfe), his wife, is not happy though and insists that she takes part in a revision of the ending. Reluctant at first, he yields, and her first change is to let Juliet (Lorna Courtney) live and move on with her life, which she does with the help of her nurse Angelique (Melanie La Barrie). Together with her best friend May (Justin David Sullivan), they move 600 miles west to Paris and party the night away in a ball hosted by Lance du Bois (Paulo Szot) for his son Frankie (Philippe Arroyo) so they can find a suitable wife for him in order to avoid joining the army. As he locks eyes with Juliet, sparks fly, but his heart flutters even more when he sees her best friend. Is Juliet ready for another marriage?

The Cottage (Broadway)

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Sylvia Van Kipness (Laura Bell Bundy) has been spending some time at her mother-in-law’s cottage in 1920’s England, but not for innocent reasons. The truth is she has been having an affair with her husband’s brother Beau (Eric McCormack). Chaos ensues when she decides to make a move and send a telegram to her husband Clarke (Alex Moffat), who comes to the cottage for a possible confrontation among the three of them. To make matters worse, Beau’s heavily pregnant wife Marjorie (Lilli Cooper) also crashes the party. Unbeknownst to the two lovers, their significant partners harbor some secrets of their own. As if the morning couldn’t get any more exciting, a woman named Deirdre (Dana Steingold) and, later, her potentially murderous husband Richard (Nehal Joshi) also enter the fray. Will Sylvia surprise everyone with her indiscretion or will she be the one to get the biggest surprise(s) of her life?

Shucked (Broadway)

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Nothing much happens in Cob county, where everything revolves around the town’s primary product: CORN. Storyteller 1 (Ashley D. Kelley) and Storyteller 2 (Grey Henson) volunteer to share a short history of the town, from its first immigrant settlers who discovered the value of corn early on all the way to a fable involving two local sweethearts about to get married but have to back out as soon as the corn started dying. Maizy (Isabella McCalla) braves the unknown and ventures out to Tampa to seek a professional’s help. There, she runs into a “corn doctor”, a proctologist named Gordy (John Behlmann) who happens to be a con artist. She takes him back to town, much to the chagrin of her ex future husband Beau (Andrew Durand) and the skepticism of her cousin Lulu (Miki Abraham). As they all go on with their daily lives pursuing their own agenda, some clarity will be had with a promise of resurrection for their favorite food staple.

A Beautiful Noise (Broadway)

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An old man and a psychiatrist play a psywar in a dark counseling room. Almost at the brink of surrender, the Doctor (Shirine Babb) unveils her final weapon: a thick songbook of all his hits. Neil Diamond (Mark Jacoby) is not happy but gives it a shot with the prodding of his current wife. As they go through his lyrics as some form of psychoanalysis, he takes a trip down memory lane starting from a younger Neil’s (Nick Fradiani) humble beginnings as a son of an immigrant family in Flatbush all the way to his meteoric rise as one of America’s best selling singer/songwriters of all time. Each song harks back to a core memory which includes meeting his first agent Ellie Greenwich (Bri Sudia) as well as his second wife Marcia (Robyn Hurder), all leading to an effort to reconcile what was with what is.

Loki: Episode 10

10. Heart of the TVA

Ouroboros and Victor Timely meet face to face and shower one another with geeky appreciation, citing each other as the author of the TVA guidebook they both rely on. They start working on a mechanism to expand the Temporal Loom’s capacity to accommodate all branched realities. Miss Minutes reveals to Ravonna that not only was she instrumental in building the TVA alongside He Who Remains, but she was also tricked into doing all the legwork while he lounged on his throne, by having her memories erased. The two march back into the TVA and try to blackmail Dox and the rest of the captive TVA rebels. All of them are killed except for X-5 who agrees to assist her. As Ravonna and X-5 take Victor Timely hostage, Ouroboros reboots the system, disabling Miss Minutes from digitally sabotaging them and allowing magic to be used at the premises. Sylvie enchants X-5 who ends up pruning Ravonna. Victor volunteers to walk towards the Temporal Loom to install the mechanism but is instantly spaghettified upon stepping out of the door. The loom overloads in a flash of blinding light.

Kimberly Akimbo (Broadway)

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Kimberly Levaco (Victoria Clark) with her mom Pattie (Alli Mauzey) and dad Buddy (Steven Boyer) abruptly move house to New Jersey without much explanation. She is suffering from a disease that makes her age four times faster than average, and is finding it hard to adjust not just at her new school, but also at their new life. To some extent, the friends she meets at school make coping easier. Delia (Olivia Elease Hardy), Martin (Fernell Hogan II), Aaron (Micheal Iskander), and Teresa (Nina White) all have unrequited love towards one another and are preparing for a performance at the school show choir. It is Seth (Justin Cooley) who she warms up to and considers a potential love interest as she navigates her already complicated life. Things get worse when her Aunt Debra (Bonnie Milligan) suddenly shows up and proposes a bank heist that would involve all of them.

Merrily We Roll Along (Broadway)

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Franklin Shepard (Jonathan Groff) has reached the pinnacle of success, crossing over from Broadway to Hollywood as a renowned songwriter. However, his triumphs have not come without a cost, and the biggest price he had to pay was losing friends and family along the way. First to go was Charley Kringas (Daniel Radcliffe), one half of their formidable musician/lyricist duo who started off auctioning their plays on the Great White Way. Trying hard to be the supportive confidante, Mary Flynn (Lindsay Mendez) also calls it quits as she delves deeper into being an alcoholic and no longer expecting her friend to reciprocate her unrequited love. As Franklin experiences another heartache in spite of his status as man of the hour, he takes a trip down memory lane, cherishing the moments when life was so much simpler and their trio did not have much except for a dream they thought they would all pursue together.

Here Lies Love (Broadway)

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Hailing from Leyte, young country lass Imelda (Arielle Jacobs) dreams big, with her lofty ambitions buoyed by the twin mantra of beauty and love that she strongly believes in. She packs her bags to leave Tacloban for Manila where she catches the eye of a young politician of the name Benigno Aquino (Conrad Ricamora). Despite their romance not really blossoming because he thinks she is too tall, she easily finds a worthy substitute in Ferdinand Marcos (Jose Llana), a senator vying for the highest position in the land. When he eventually triumphs in a landslide election victory, what follows is a life of opulence and absolute power she could only dream of, with her primary love interest now becoming their regime’s biggest critic. But is power meant to last forever or are we just waiting for a rude comeuppance to crash this lavish party?

[CHONBURI] Budget and Itinerary

FRIDAY: October 20, 2023

VietJet (Phu Quoc - Bangkok) - 2,110.00

Bell Travel Service (Suvarnabhumi - Pattaya) - 325.00

Nonze Hostel (2 Nights) - 825.00

McDonalds (Nuggets Meal + Sundae) - 295.00

Two Brothers (Seafood Fried Rice + Coke) - 330.00

THB3,885.00

[PATTAYA] A Golden Buddha and a Wooden Temple

Once upon a time I thought Pattaya was part of Bangkok, and always wondered in which Soi I could find it. Later on I found out that Pattaya was actually in a separate province called Chonburi down east forming a horseshoe with Bangkok and Hua Hin along the bay that flows out to the Gulf of Thailand. And we know what that means. BEACH! But how do you get to Pattay from Bangkok? Easy. Bus it. Book online via this website: https://pattayabus.com/. You can pay there directly and screenshot your ticket.

Loki: Episode 9

9. 1893

Ravonna Renslayer travels to 1868 Chicago in the sacred timeline and meets Miss Minutes there who instructs her to drop the TVA handbook at the house of a young boy. They then head over to an 1893 branched timeline where the boy is now an eccentric inventor by the name of Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors), a variant of He Who Remains. It doesn’t take long for Loki and Mobius to track them down, after which a tug of war for Victor’s trust ensues. Sylvie joins the fray in a bit in her persistent mission of killing all of He Who Remains’ variants, but Loki intervenes. Victor ends up with Renslayer but Miss Minutes manages to get rid of her and have some alone time with Victor at his lab in Wisconsin, where she chastises him for not even thinking about giving her a body despite being his most loyal sidekick from the get-go. Renslayer, Loki, Mobius, and Sylvie eventually catch up. Sylvie spares Victor’s life, with Loki and Mobius taking him back to the TVA. Instead of killing Renslayer, Sylvie dumps her at the End of Time where she and Miss Minutes discover He Who Remains’ rotting corpse.

[KIEN GIANG] Budget and Itinerary

WEDNESDAY: October 18, 2023

Bamboo Airways (Da Nang - Phu Quoc) - 540,000.00

M Hotel (2 Nights) - 1,870,000.00

M Hotel (Seafood Fried Rice + Watermelon Juice) - 224,532.00

Store (Groceries) - 185,000.00

M Hotel (Spaghetti Bolognese + Watermelon Juice) - 224,532.00

VND3,043,064.00

[DA NANG] Budget and Itinerary

MONDAY: October 16, 2023

April Adventure Shuttle (Hue - Da Nang) - 332,855.00

Touch of Thai (Fried Rice + Watermelon Juice + Choco Shake) - 189,000.00

SEN Boutique Villa Apartment (2 Nights) - 875,300.00

Full Mart (Groceries) - 330,999.00

VND1,728,154.00

[THUA THIEN-HUE] Budget and Itinerary

SATURDAY: October 14, 2023

Cebu Pacific (Manila - Ho Chi Minh) - 1,195,000.00

Grab (HCM Airport - Lotus Airport Hotel Saigon) - 72,000.00

Lotus Airport Hotel Saigon (1 Night) - 580,000.00

Grab (Lotus Airport Hotel Saigon - HCM Airport) - 48,000.00

VietJet (Ho Chi Minh - Hue) - 1,009,900.00

Grab Taxi (Hue Airport - Nemo Homestay) - 325,000.00

Nemo Homestay (2 Nights) - 760,000.00

Jollibee (Hotdog + Spaghetti w/ Fries & Coke + Chicken Strips) - 174,000.00

VND4,163,900.00

Loki: Episode 8

8. Breaking Brad

Ouroboros attempts to fix the Temporal Loom but needs the aura of either He Who Remains, who is dead, or Miss Minutes to override the system. Otherwise, a temporal meltdown would eventually lead to the agency’s demise. TVA Agent X-5 (Rafael Casal) returns to his life in the sacred timeline as popular actor Brad Wolfe but is taken back to the TVA by Mobius and Loki to be questioned. After a bit of torture, he admits to finding Sylvie and reluctantly brings Mobius and Loki to the 1982 branched timeline where Sylvie is working at a McDonald’s in Oklahoma. After witnessing a rather uneasy Brad, Sylvie enchants him and sees firsthand that Dox’s real plan is to prune the branched timelines with reset charges. They head back to the TVA but are too late as the pruning has already begun. Mobius, Loki, and Sylvie manage to apprehend Dox but some of her loyalists escape. Meanwhile, Casey (Eugene Cordero), the TVA receptionist and fan of Ouroboros, finally gets to track Ravonna Renslayer’s TemPad in one of the branched timelines.

Loki: Episode 7

7. Ouroboros

Loki is back at the TVA warning Mobius and company about the threat of He Who Remains' variants, but they do not recognize him because he is time slipping back and forth to the present and past TVA, which everyone believes to be impossible. At present, Mobius and B-15 try to argue with General Dox (Kate Dickie), a member of a new council of TVA judges, against pruning, but she is adamant in tracking down Sylvie to figure out what their raison d’etre should be now that the TVA’s lies have been revealed. Mobius accompanies Loki to Ouroboros (Ke Huy Quan), a TVA technician who single handedly mans the Repairs and Advancement Department. His solution for Loki’s time slipping is for him to be pruned just as Mobius approaches the Temporal Loom with the Temporal Aura Extractor. As Loki time slips to the future with the TVA being evacuated in the impending meltdown, he sees Sylvie in an elevator before he is pruned by an unseen character. He and Mobius survive to live another day. Meanwhile, Sylvie ends up in a branched timeline in 1982 Oklahoma.