Asian Persuasion

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Even Filipino-Americans fall out of love. After years of marriage and sharing an adorable daughter, Mick de los Santos (Dante Basco) and wife Avery (KC Concepcion) call it quits, culminating in the signing of their divorce papers that legally oblige him to provide alimony, which he probably couldn’t afford. After a night of booze and stimulants with his best friend Caspian (Kevin Kreider), Mick comes up with an outrageous idea. Since he knows his ex-wife inside out anyway, why not create a profile for her on a dating app and set her up to date and marry the best match? In the end, she ends up happily remarried and he won’t have an alimony problem anymore, right? Enter successful but socially-awkward Wall Street yuppie Lee (Paolo Montalban) who ends up being okay with the scheme after five minutes of getting upset over being catfished. Will Avery and Lee fall in love or will Mick just eventually snap out of denial and realize that he just wants his ex-wife back?

In His Mother's Eyes

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Timothy Mananquil (LA Santos) is a special child who grows up with his uncle Bibs (Roderick Paulate) after his mother Lucy (Maricel Soriano) leaves both of them behind so she can fly to Japan and work there to financially support them. All communications stop five years later, uncle and nephew deciding to move on with their lives and consider her dead. And then she comes back, 13 years later. Tim is now an adolescent being bullied at school for his condition, but has a happy disposition in life thanks to his uncle’s endless support as well as his friends’ encouragement. Her return shakes things up in a household where routine is key to the teenager’s overall wellbeing. Finding it difficult to reconnect with her son given his condition, Lucy also faces animosity from her brother for abandoning them. Will their family ever be whole again or should she just walk away like she always does?

[KEDAH] Budget and Itinerary

WEDNESDAY: November 15, 2023

Satun Pakbara Speed Boat (Ko Lipe - Langkawi) - 161.00

Grab (Telaga Terminal - Cenang Mall) - 17.00

KFC (Snack Box) - 14.00

Grab (Cenang Mall - The Villa) - 5.00

The Villa Langawi (2 Nights) - 268.00

7 Eleven (Groceries) - 44.40

MYR509.40

[PERLIS] Budget and Itinerary

FRIDAY: November 17, 2023

Langkawi Ferry Lines (Langkawi - Kuala Perlis) - 27.00

KFC (1 pc Chicken w/ Rice & Coke + Cheezy Wedges) - 20.50

Grab (Jeti Kuala Perlis - Kota Kayang Museum) - 7.00

Grab (Kota Kayang Museum - Arau Train Station) - 14.00

KTM (Arau - Alor Setar) - 3.90

MYR72.40

[KUALA PERLIS] A Short Day Trip

I could have taken the ferry directly to Kuala Kedah instead of Kuala Perlis, but we still have the goal of visiting all of Malaysia’s states, now don’t we? Perlis is the country’s smallest state and considered by some to be rather inaccessible, wedged there at Malaysia’s border with Thailand. It is served by the country’s train system via Arau. If you are coming from neighboring Kedah state’s island of Langkawi, a ferry to Kuala Perlis is also available. The trip lasts an hour and costs MYR27 (~PHP320).

[LANGKAWI] Green Hills and Sky Bridges

Langkawi has its own international airport but the only international flight is from Singapore. The rest are all domestic, with AirAsia and Malaysia Airlines sharing most of the slots. It is rumored that flyDubai will be mounting flights from the UAE by early next year. If you are not flying, you can also reach the island paradise via ferry with sea routes to neighboring island of Koh Lipe in Thailand, Kuala Kedah to mainland Kedah, and Kuala Perlis in the neighboring state of Perlis.

[SATUN] Budget and Itinerary

MONDAY: November 13, 2023

Satun Pakbara Speed Boat (Hat Yai - Satun - Koh Lipe) - 800.00

Satun Pier (Terminal Fee) - 20.00

Environmental Fee (Koh Tarutao/7 Days) - 200.00

Bakery (Donut) - 20.00

Papaya Mama (Fried Rice w/ Coke + Mango Shake) - 180.00

Chic Lipe (2 Nights) - 1,600.00

7 Eleven (Groceries) - 301.00

THB3,121.00

[SATUN] Thailand's Andaman Islands

The original plan was to check out the north from Bangkok, so possibly Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. However, as travel dates loomed and airfare changed, I was left with a cheap Bangkok - Hat Yai flight ticket and no exit point. And so I explored some land border options heading to Malaysia when I remembered the draft itinerary I had of the Koh Lipe - Langkawi ferry route. Perhaps, it’s time to turn this draft into reality, eh? And so we did. But first, how do you get to Koh Lipe from Hat Yai?

[SONGKHLA] Budget and Itinerary

SATURDAY: November 11, 2023

Thai Air Asia (Bangkok - Hat Yai) - 1,325.00

Grab (Airport - Hat Yai) - 175.00

Hotel Icon (2 Nights) - 1,145.00

Store (Groceries) - 80.00

THB2,725.00

[HAT YAI] Two Buddhas for Your Pit Stop

Hat Yai has always been on my radar as far as gateways to Southern Thailand are concerned. It wouldn’t be my first time to the south. After all, I’ve already visited Phuket eons ago. However, I was still on the hunt for southern airports to explore other areas, and Hat Yai filled that gap. I thought this would be nothing more than a glorified pitstop en route to neighboring Satun, and so I was surprised when Hat Yai, apparently, has its own tourist attractions in store.

The Marvels

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Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) ending the Supreme Intelligence inadvertently leads to Hala’s gradual destruction, leaving the Kree without water, sun, and atmosphere. Their new leader Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) searches for and finds one half of a bangle pair which has the power to create cosmic jump points. Despite vowing to find the other pair, which is in the hands of Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani), she already creates enough havoc by sequestering Skrull refugee planet Tarnax’s atmosphere, waterworld Aladna’s bodies of water, and with plans of eventually stealing the Earth’s sun, all worlds that have a special connection to Captain Marvel. As the use of the mythical quantum band causes an entanglement among the light-based powers of Carol, Kamala, and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris), the three team-up to stop their new enemy, but not without complications. The three of them must work together as a team while Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) attempts to hold the fort back at SWORD.

Loki: Episode 12

12. Glorious Purpose

No matter how many times Loki timeslips, Victor Timely always ends up spaghettified, getting them nowhere near their goal. As such, Loki totally commits and even spends centuries mastering what Ouroboros knows just to buy them time, but even as Victor makes it to the end, the Temporal Loom still overloads because it is not equipped to handle an infinitely expanding multiverse. The next option is for Loki to timeslip in time to kill Sylvie in order to prevent her from murdering He Who Remains, which is the main catalyst for their dilemma. He tries many times but can’t get himself to do so. In the end, he himself steps out to destroy the Temporal Loom and enchants the branches on his own, settling in on He Who Remains’ former throne at the End of Time, fashioning what was the loom into a flourishing tree of branched timelines with him serving as the uniting force preventing its collapse. The TVA is up and running again, this time tracing the variants of He Who Remains in an effort to prevent them from causing multiversal chaos.

[NEW YORK] Budget and Itinerary (8)

MONDAY: 23 October 2023

Philippine Airlines (Bangkok - Manila - New York - Manila - Bangkok) - 765.00

Uber (JFK Terminal 1 - Queens) - 21.91

Airbnb (1 Night/Queens) - 70.00

USD856.91

[MANHATTAN] Broadway Barrage Season 8

Did we miss Broadway Barrage? Well, does the sun shine every morning? Of course we did, especially considering the fact that the gap has been a bit long this year. Season 7 was in March 2022. Season 8 is finally happening but late this time in the fall in October/November 2023. As always, we have an interesting line up, a full slate of eight shows this season! nine, if you consider the bonus Poor Yella Rednecks inclusion. Are we ready? Here are the eight shows we’ve seen this season!

Poor Yella Rednecks (Broadway)

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Unable to fulfill his promise to go fly back to Saigon to rescue his kids no matter what the cost, Quang (Ben Levin) is now living a refugee’s life in Arkansas and having an affair with Tong (Maureen Sebastian). Even though they are not legally married to other people in the United States, their past comes back to haunt them as they are inexplicably followed by his wife, deeming their plans for marriage invalid in the eyes of the law. Their kid whom they fondly call Little Man (Jon Norman Schneider) grows up to be a playwright, chronicling their journey as a migrant family in the deep south. He writes a play involving all characters such as his strong-willed grandmother (Samantha Quan), an honest look at the experience growing up Asian in America as well as the challenges that continue to hound him and his family despite decades of integration.

[DELAWARE] Budget and Itinerary

MONDAY: 6 November 2023

Amtrak (Baltimore - Wilmington - Baltimore) - 20.00

Starbucks (Mocha Frappe) - 7.74

USD27.74

[WILMINGTON] Rodney Square and River Walk

I guess we’ll just have to admit that Delaware was one of those states that I decided to visit just for the sake of visiting it and crossing it off my map of ‘Murica. The Greyhound from Newark made a bathroom stop somewhere near Wilmington and that was my first impression of Delaware: a pit stop with food options ranging from Panda Express to Cinnabon. There was also a lottery machine there, which had me betting on a lottery I’ve never seen before called Lotto America.

[MARYLAND] Budget and Itinerary

THURSDAY: 2 November 2023

Greyhound (Newark - Baltimore) - 38.98

73 (Greyhound - State Center) - 2.00

Airbnb (5 Nights/Baltimore) - 304.61

St. Paul Mini Mart (Groceries) - 18.56

USD364.15

[VIRGINIA] Budget and Itinerary

FRIDAY: 3 November 2023

Amtrak (Baltimore - DC - Baltimore) - 20.00

McDonalds (Hash Brown x2 + Hot Choco) - 8.66

DC Metro Card (Card + Credits) - 12.00

McDonalds (Chicken Nuggets Meal) - 7.36

USD48.02

[ARLINGTON] Arlington and Alexandria

I should have visited Virginia as a side trip when I went to Washington DC almost half a decade ago. After all, Arlington and Alexandria are both covered by DC’s metro system. It wasn’t that inaccessible from Baltimore either, though. I chanced upon a $20 roundtrip Amtrak ticket. The Baltimore to DC route lasts 45 minutes. Add another 20 minutes for the Red/Blue trip to Arlington cemetery. That’s two US states for you in less than half an hour! And so, we start with Arlington.

Loki: Episode 11

11. Science/Fiction

Just as the Temporal Loom collapses, Loki is taken places and times by his recurrent timeslipping, visiting his friends in branched timelines living their pre-TVA lives: Casey as an ex-convict in 1962 San Francisco; B-15 as a doctor in 2012 New York; Mobius as a jet ski salesman and single dad of two in 2022 Cleveland; and Ouroboros as a failed sci-fi writer with a CalTech PhD in Theoretical Physics in 1994 Pasadena. Loki hands over the TVA guidebook to Ouroboros as he travels back and forth to convince the others who have no recollection of the TVA. He also finds Sylvie in the branched Oklahoma timeline, the only one who remembers everything. Reluctant to help at first, she eventually seeks Loki as her branched timeline is pruned. As they gather helpless at Ouroboros’ lab, they are pruned one by one as a consequence of the Temporal Loom’s collapse, just as Loki finally gets to control his timeslipping by realizing that it is not about where, when or why, but rather who. He timeslips right back to the time as Victor Timely is gearing up to step out of the blast door.

[PROVIDENCIALES] Budget and Itinerary

SUNDAY: October 29, 2023

jetBlue (JFK - Providenciales) - 131.20

Provo Connections (Airport - Venetian Road - Airport) - 40.00

Airbnb (3 Nights) - 348.00

Graceway (Groceries) - 38.30

USD557.50