The Saturday Agenda: Music and Tonteki

Hello Saturday! How fast time flies, my dears. Now, we are on the second half of 2015. How are you getting on with your annual game plan? I hope that 2015 is working in your favor.

My regular Saturdays usually consist of chilling out at my room and doing my weekly laundry. Vel, one of my closest besties in the BFF circle, usually spends her Saturdays sleeping. Yes, sleeping. No! This has got to stop! Hahaha. That's when we decided to spend this Saturday for a sort-of quarterly-ish catchup.

Bought the tickets a day in advance to avoid the queue and the risk of not getting tickets on the day itself. It also forced us to push through with The Saturday Agenda (no more excuses to sleep in or cancel, hahaha) ;)

What I thought of the movie? Please click 'Read more'.



What I think about the movie, The Breakup Playlist: Marketing was good which explains the curiosity factor contributing to the hype and interest. 

My two cents in one sentence --- I liked the approach. I felt the same as I did for the book, Why We Broke Up (totally un-related to the movie). I didn't necessarily liked the characters and how the story developed, but I liked how the story was told. In the case of the book, Why We Broke Up, the story was told through a box of mementos and memories which were eventually returned to the sender/giver/ex. The first time I read the book, I actually went with the broken-hearted narrator in falling for and believing that the guy was actually in love with me. When I read the book the second time, that was when I realized what an idiot that fictional guy/ex was. In my opinion, these are what powerful narratives are made of. The litmus test - when one actually gets lost in the story enough to actually believe it. 

In the case of the movie, The Breakup Playlist, I was quite impressed with the almost-unconventional way that the story was presented, i.e., through sound/music tracks which were not 'played' in chronological order. It broke away from the usual formula seen in Star Cinema romantic flicks. 

Sarah Geronimo portrayed a believable and relatable Trixie, the cool musician with raw undiscovered talent in the movie. Despite her current pop-star status, she was able to pull that through. Piolo Pascual, on the other hand, seemed too good-looking and charming for the rockstar character, Gino. The rockstars or band members I have met in real life or those that we see in the actual music scene are more of the 'rough' and quiet types. They have a certain depth that cannot be explained in words but only translated in their music. 

The presence of real-life musicians and less 'actors' in the movie lent some credibility to the story. The falling in and out parts were relatable and realistic. However, in my case, the plot lines along the cause of the breakup didn't strike up any chord for me. That may just be a matter of perspective. I have less reasons to complain about the personalities and substance of the men from my past ;) If I do have any, then they were just not worth the second chance. At all. In short, my past loves can easily be categorized as 'the one that got away' or just 'never-mind', lol. The regrets are mostly about the situation rather than the person.

Back to the movie. I hoped that the "track" between the breakup and moving on were given more time to develop. No spoilers here, guys. I just hope that there was more time to progress through certain emotions. There was more of that in "Starting Over Again", another movie that also starred Piolo Pascual.

Contrary to popular claims, I shed less tears in this movie. In fact, almost none. 

Our movie tickets entitled us to a Buy One, Take One promo of Seattle's Best Coffee's Javakulas.

I got the brownies javakula while Vel got the chocolate chip one.

What I think about Javakulas: I loved my brownies javakula. They reminded me of Iloilo's butterscotch and Bacolod's brownies.

Catching up: You don't have enough time; you make time.

In between SBC and our dinner, we had celebrity sightings and a "free concert" at Glorietta. It was a jam-packed Glorietta with the three floors around the activity area spilling with people. For a while, we forgot our hunger and stood among the crowds to listen in Regine Velasquez' songs and be amazed at how she can belt out with seemingly no effort. How lovely it was to see her husband, Ogie Alcasid and their son, Nate, in full support.

Dinner at Tokyo Tonteki, Greenbelt 5: We ordered a chopped tonteki set each. I tried the royal milk tea and got a free stir-fried mushrooms plate (not in picture) c/o my SGV ID :)

What I think about the food: The unlimited miso soup, rice and shredded cabbage will sure make a happy treat to those with big appetites. I loved the thick and tender slices of pork loin steak. It's this sort of unlimited set meal that I'd keep coming back to. For the price, you get both quality and quantity. The stir-fried enoki mushrooms are tasty and memorable. The royal milk tea is best served chilled so I asked for more ice towards the end of the meal.  I would have wanted to try the desserts but was too full then. That was how good the tonteki set meal was. 

I love spontaneity in my Saturday agenda. I spend it solo most of the time but spending it with a bestie is most welcome. Enjoy the rest of the Saturday, dears.