The JANG KEUN SUK Charm

Jang Keun-Suk (Jang Geun Seok) or JKS, more popularly known as Sukkie, is a Korean actor-singer-model I have come to admire recently.  Well, what can I say, he's exceptionally multi-talented and extremely gorgeous.  But I admire him more because of his wonderful personality and character.  

I first saw him in the drama "Marry Me, Mary!" (Mary Stayed Out All Night), which I gather was the most recent one he did... and I thought he was absolutely amazing in his portrayal!  He was also stunning in "You're Beautiful" (He's Beautiful), the other drama he did which gained some sort of cult following.  This guy really has extraordinary talent and is very versatile!  He owns each and every character he portrays and does so much justice to it!

Before this, I didn't know who he is, or that he is actually pretty famous (not so much in his native Korea, so he says, but in other Asian countries, specially Japan & China).  I looked him up to know more about him and surprisingly, there's quite a lot written of him and a tremendous amount of YouTube videos as well.  One thing very distinct about Jang Keun Suk is his fashion sense, which perfectly fits the carefree person he is.  He seems to have a thousand and one looks, and has a very charismatic smile.  He wears his hair long nowadays and it gives him the "pretty boy" appeal and makes him look more mature, as opposed to the short boy-next-door crop he used to have.

Well, he is an incredibly good-looking and charming young lad, with an amazing personality and charisma that just draws people to him.  He is cheerful and outspoken; so free-spirited yet so serious and passionate about his craft.  And what's most admirable about him is that amidst the success and fame, he still manages to find time for his studies.  He goes to Hanyang University and majors in Theater and Film.  Not a lot of actors can find that balance between their career and education. Kudos!!!

At such a young age (he's only 24 years old), Jang Keun Suk already has a lot of things going for him ~ he's got numerous movies and TV dramas, various product endorsements and commercials, not to mention several commercial jingles and songs for the Original Soundtrack (OST) albums of his dramas, and a Japanese album under his belt.  He's so much fun to watch and listen to, whether in a drama or not.  He's got a rich, soothing baritone voice and he sings "from the heart."  My favorites among his songs are "My Precious", "Hello, Hello" & "I Will Promise You" (from "Marry Me, Me"), and "Still", "Without Words" & "What Should I Do" (from "You're Beautiful/Handsome").  I've seen clips of his shows and I can say he is one total performer.

It's definitely not surprising that he has become a household name all over Asia and some other parts of the world ~ he has the looks, the talent, the passion, sincerity, and an awesome personality.  And he also has a very good sense of humor... he sure knows how to have fun and make fun of himself.  Watching his interviews, I believe there's really more to Jang Keun Suk than meets the eye... he is a helluva person ~ the guy's got sense, substance, and character (which, to me, is the most important thing).

He is BEAUTIFUL, literally and figuratively, inside and out.  And he seems to be a genuinely unpretentious person which is why you can't help but really love and admire him. 

Follow him on Twitter:  @AsiaPrince_JKS

Know more about him from his websites (no English translation though):  www.jangkeunsuk.co.kr & www.cri-j.com

What Love Means to 4 to 8 Year-Olds...

I just got this in my e-mail (like, 5 minutes ago).  It's actually a chain letter but this is one of the many chain letters I've received in the mail that is essentially worth reading so I decided to post it.


What Love means to a 4-8 year-old...

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, 

'What does love mean?'

The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined.  See what you think:

'When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.  So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.'

Rebecca- age 8


'When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.
You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.'

Billy - age 4


'Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.'

Karl - age 5


'Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.'

Chrissy - age 6


'Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.'

Terri - age 4


'Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.'

Danny - age 7


'Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more.  My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss'

Emily - age 8


'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'

Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)


'If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,'

Nikka - age 6
(we need a few million more Nikkas on this planet)


'Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.'

Noelle - age 7


'Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.'

Tommy - age 6


'During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling.  He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.'

Cindy - age 8


'My mommy loves me more than anybody.
You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.'

Clare - age 6


'Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.'

Elaine-age 5


'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.'

Chris - age 7


'Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.'

Mary Ann - age 4


'I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.'

Lauren - age 4


'When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.' (what an image)

Karen - age 7


'Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross.'

Mark - age 6


'You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.'
 

Jessica - age 8

And the final one...

The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.

Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said,

'Nothing, I just helped him cry'

A Filipino Does It Again...

I know this is a very much delayed post, but still worth blogging about.

Yes, fifteen-year-old Eumir Marcial bagged the gold in the Light Bantamweight (52kg) Division of the recently concluded AIBA Junior World Boxing Championships held in Astana, Kazakstan.  He bested the contenders from Turkey (2nd Place, Silver), Korea and Belarus (tied at 3rd Place, Bronze), and he is the first Filipino to do so.

I was teary-eyed as I was watched the latter portion of the video below.  I felt so gallantly proud when the Philippine flag was raised (together with those of the other winners) as the Philippine National Anthem played.  I can't help but feel so damn proud!

PROUD TO BE PINOY!

My TOP 10 SONGS of All-Time

Truth is, I am an old soul...

And these are the songs of my life, my heart, and soul.

Old as some may be, but these are songs that mean the most to me.


Ngayon by Basil Valdez (an Original Pilipino Music - OPM), 1981



"Make each moment of your life worthwhile... Live life with no regrets."


Beauty and Madness by Fra Lippo Lippi, 1988



"The beauty of life lies not in what you have but who you're with to see it through."


Say that You Love Me by Martin Nievera (Original Pilipino Music), 1989



"Loving someone so much so that it hurts..."


Go the Distance by Michael Bolton (theme from the movie Hercules), 1997



"YOU are destined for GREATNESS..."


Amazed by Lonestar, 1999



"I love you... and that is what matters the most."


Flying Without Wings by Westlife, 1999



"Having the person you love beside you makes each day worth waking up to."


Today My Life Begins by Bruno Mars, 2010



"The failures of the past are over and done with... time to start anew."


God Gave Me You by Bryan White, 1999



"I thank God for the gift of YOU."


I'm Yours by The Script, 2008



"Yes, love can be so unconditional."


Keep Your Head Up by Andy Grammer, 2011



"Life's challenges & failures are there to help you learn so you can stand back up."

I Got THAI'd: A Photolog

My trip to Thailand, though short-lived, was quite an experience ~ great place, new culture, new language, different people (on second thought, not much, as we look somehow the same), and… food adventures.

Bits and pieces of Thailand in photos...

1.  The BTS or Skytrain

It's similar to the MRT in the Philippines, only more spacious and the seats more comfortable.  But the very big difference?... the people are way more disciplined (no offense meant there. just objective observation).

2.  MBK Center, Bangkok

The mall has an entrance connected to the BTS or Skytrain

Swensen's in MBK Mall

UCC Cafe at the basement level

Right at the heart of Bangkok and connected to the BTS is this shopping mall.  What else can I say... it's a shopping haven (one of the, actually).  It is the most visited mall in Bangkok because of the varied items and reasonable prices.

3.  Siam Ocean World in Siam Paragon, Bangkok

A Chevy Fish Tank (no less)!

One of Bangkok's famous attractions is this underground marine showcase.  Located at the basement of Siam Paragon, it has hundreds of marine life species on display in the largest tanks I've ever seen.  It is amazing how each and every fish tank in the whole Oceanarium re-creates the natural underwater sea conditions - water salinity, temperatures, and all.

4.  The Grand Palace

Wall murals, intricately & beautifully done

5.  The Vimanmek Mansion or Teak Palace

Chanced upon a Komodo Dragon in the palace grounds

Why Google Plus is about to Change the Web as We Know It

( Re-blogged from techrepublic.com )


Takeaway: After a series of failed attempts at social networking, Google may have nailed it with Google+. See why and how it could have a major impact on the future of the Web.

This is the way Google always wanted social networking to work, and this time the company may have pulled it off.

Google’s previous social attempts have been unmitigated train wrecks, if we’re being completely honest. Open Social failed because Google couldn’t get Facebook and other social networks to buy into the idea of a shared social identity. Google Wave missed the target by not being useful enough to attract any users. Google Buzz freaked people out by naively overstepping its bounds on privacy.

So, when Google unveiled its latest social experiment last week — called Google+ — I was extremely skeptical. Still, Facebook is so malignant in terms of privacy and such a mess to use and configure that I was more than happy to give Google+ a try. I just expected that it would be a speed-dating relationship like most of my product reviews and destined to last no more than a few weeks at the most.

Damn, was I wrong. After almost a week, I fully expect this Google+ thing to turn into a long-term relationship. I mean, we’re not buying matching workout suits or anything yet, but this is definitely more than just a crush on the hot, new thing.

To start, Google+ is what Google calls a “field trial” — a fancy way to say that it’s still in beta. For now, it is open mostly to technology industry insiders and the press. Google reasoned that since reporters were going to be writing about Plus anyway, they might as well let them kick the tires. Wise move.

Vic Gundotra, Google’s SVP of Social and the head guy in charge of Plus, said, ”We chose the initial seed very carefully. We wanted a lot of diversity, so we have people that represent over 42 of the world’s languages… We’re trying to really test the product, make sure that we meet people’s privacy expectations, that the systems are working, [and] that we can scale. We’ll slowly grow that initial seed as we’re ready.”

The other Google executive running the Plus project, Bradley Horowitz, added, ”Field trial is the right term. That’s not a euphemism. There’s a lot of rough edges in there and a lot of learning we have to do. The feedback we got in the first 24 hours is tremendous.”

Even with its rough edges and without the masses of humanity having access to Google+, the core experience is pretty powerful, and it’s easy to see where Google is going with this.

As I wrote over the weekend while diving into Google+, the most attractive part is how easy it is to find, add, and organize your friends (I cited that as the main reason you won’t hate Google+). The friend issue is the heart of all social networks, although it’s so obvious that it’s often overlooked. In fact, Twitter still isn’t very good at it, Facebook is a little better, but both of them now look like neophytes compared to the way Google+ does it.

The friend feature on Google+ is called “Circles,” and it turns out to be an intuitive mashup of friending (from Facebook) and following (from Twitter). Circles are basically sets of friends that you can drag and drop into groups, mirroring your existing social circles — Family & Friends, Colleagues, Local Techies, etc. — rather than just the one big lump of friends you have on Facebook that can result in moments of “worlds colliding,” since you have to share all of your updates with all of your friends. On Google+, you can selectively send updates to different circles, and you can quickly click between the news streams of your different circles.

You can also make circles for people you don’t necessarily know but are interested in following their updates (e.g. Tech Journalists, Famous Engineers, Web Celebrities, etc.). This is where Google+ echoes Twitter, because people don’t have to follow you back in order for you to add them to one of your Circles. At that point, you’ll see all of their public updates, and most of these folks make the majority of their updates public in order to be seen by more people (it’s the whole social media narcissism meme, and it has already transplanted itself on Google Plus).

The real killer feature to Circles in Google+ is how easy it is to find and add friends. Everywhere you see a user’s name or avatar you can simply mouse over it, click “Add to Circles,” and then select which circle to add them to. On Twitter, it took me about three years to find about 200 really interesting people (mostly in technology and the media) worth following. It took me less than three days to find that many on Google Plus. Of course, most of them are the same people, so Google+ has the advantage of speed by letting us quickly re-coagulate our existing social graph on the new service.

I’m not predicting Google+ will replace Facebook and/or Twitter. This will definitely not be a zero sum game. Facebook has the most to lose from Google Plus, but it’s going to be years before Aunt Jenny and your plumber show up on Google+ the way they recently showed up on Facebook (and it’s possible they never will). All three of these social networks — Facebook, Google+, and Twitter — will still be going strong three years from now. People will gravitate to them for different reasons. They’ll go to Twitter for news and to cyber-stalk celebrities. They’ll go to Facebook for private networking, water cooler chats, and games.

So, where will that leave Google+?

Smart Ultimate All-Star Weekend

Truth be told, basketball isn't really one of my passions... but boy, do I love the game!  And why the hell not?  It is one of the most celebrated sports in the Philippines.

Basketball, more specifically, the Smart Ultimate All-Star Weekend, is what kept me up, about, and glued to the television screen last Saturday and Sunday night.

Say we put NBA stars Kobe Bryant, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul (CP3), Derek Fischer, Tyreke Evans, James Harden, Derrick Williams, Javale McGee in one team - and call it Smart All-Stars?  And then the PBA MVP's and Rookies led by James Yap, no less, in another team - and call it PBA All-Stars?  Plus, the Philippine National Basketball Team, Smart Gilas, in yet another?  It'd be a BLAST!

That is just what happened at the Araneta Coliseum this weekend.  It was a blast, a madhouse, and definitely a once in a lifetime experience.

Too bad I wasn't able to get tickets (they were freakin' sold out!). *sigh* :(  Thank God they had a live telecast of Saturday's game and a delayed telecast of Sunday's game.  

The Smart All-Stars won the game against the PBA All-Stars, 131-105 on Saturday.

And on Sunday, they also won versus the Smart Gilas, 98-89.

It was an amazing and intense two-day event, and the first ever, in the Philippines. You can feel the excitement and exhilaration of basketball fans from all over permeate through the TV screen.  It's contagious!  I, for one, was so happy and excited just watching the game on television. 

The NBA players were so cool!  Not only did they strut their stuff, with game faces on, on the court, they even threw out their autographed rubber shoes (OMG!) to the audience after the game on Sunday.  Those who caught them were really lucky dudes.  

It was an intense ALL-STAR weekend, indeed!

One that the Filipinos will never ever forget.

So Surreal.