Certified Blogaholic

Last night on CBS’ 48 Hours Mystery, the show featured the high profile murder case of fitness champs Craig Titus and his wife Kelly Ryan. The show featured the defense attorneys of the couple, Marc Saggese and Mike Cristalli, who discussed the case that brought them to the national spotlight a few year ago.

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Fans of CSI: Las Vegas will have to savor the remaining episodes of the series with Gil Grissom still on board. CBS confirmed that Willam Petersen will soon be leaving the show and remain only as the series’ executive producer.  However, CBS hints that Grissom may still show up now and then as they insists that viewers haven’t seen the last of him yet.

According to Petersen, leaving Grissom isn’t what bothers him.  As an actor, he believes that it’s time to move on and try other things.  However, saying goodbye to the cast and crew would be the hardest part.  As such, he wants to be a part of the show behind the scenes and stay until the lights turn off.  Petersen’s exit is the latest blow following the departure of Jorja Fox and Gary Dourdan last season.

Producers assure fans that they still have a lot under their sleeve.  Aside from new casts, they also plan to have William Friedkin (The Exorcist) direct the show’s 200th episode this spring.  Whatever’s up their sleeve, I hope it works.  Grissom’s exit may well be the clincher that will spell disaster for the famed series.

As of 11:00 P.M. June 17, 2008, broadcaster Ces Drilon, her cameraman Jimmy Encarnacion and Professor Dinampo, have been freed by their bandit kidnappers in Indanan, Sulu. A few hours after the freed hostages were delivered to Mayor Isnaji’s son, they were flown via a Huey helicopter to a military camp for debriefing. All negotiators, including Senator Loren Legarda, as well as military and police officials vehemently denied payment of the P15 million ransom demanded earlier, but of course, that could also be part of the whole negotiation/agreement, we don’t really know.

How Newscaster Ces Became the News

Drilon was laughing and crying during the initial press conference, visibly happy and relieved despite her wretched appearance. She thanked all the negotiators, her peers in the media and her Kapamilya network for all the help and prayers. She was also very apologetic to her superiors and local military commanders “for being stubborn and failing to follow protocols” and to her family and the families of her crew for subjecting them to this ordeal.

“I’ve been in and out of Mindanao, and I want to understand the situation here. Sa kasamaang palad (Unfortunately), there was some betrayal involved, and we were kidnapped,” she told reporters early Wednesday in Zamboanga City.

She refused to get into the details but simply said, “We’ll get there. We are cooperating with the investigation and we condemn [the kidnappers] for what they did.” Read the rest of this entry »

USA Network’s new original series In Plain Sight premiered last June 1, 2008 showcasing a new storyline based on the responsibilities of agents working under the Witness Protection Program. While most popular TV series at present revolve around various jobs of crime investigators such as CSI or Dexter, In Plain Sight features the dilemma and difficulties of Witness Protection agents who protects the identities of their witnesses and oftentimes their own.

One of the characters in the series is Mary Shannon (played by Mary McCormack) who keeps her job a secret to her mother and sister. Protecting witnesses with targets painted on their foreheads is hardly a job any mother would be proud of. Her job not only entails protecting witnesses from harm, but also playing several parts in the witness’ transition to a new life. More often than not, she plays therapist, best friend, maid of honor, mother, and homicide agent.

A job that places the life of a witness in your hands plus the justice that depends on the witness staying alive is not a job for most. But for Mary Shannon, keeping herself and the witness hidden in plain sight is the name of the game. Would you like to play a game? Find Mary in the blog hidden in plain sight.

Television series are getting better and better each day. After the avalanche of new TV series that came following the success of CSI, USA Network’s new original series In Plain Sight launched its pilot episode on June 1. How is the new series different from the rest? Well, this time, it details the exploits of US Marshals with the Witness Protection Program.

I checked the website and tried to find out more about the new series and find out if it’s something to look forward to when the series catapults itself into cable here in our country. I have been a fan of CSI, Prisonbreak, and Dexter. I wonder if the Witness Protection Program has as much excitement as the CSI. I checked out the characters too and read their bios. I believe I would find Mary Shannon the most interesting character of all. Like her, I prefer to keep details of my job off limits to family. I don’t discuss it with them over dinner or during evening chats. However, Shannon’s character goes a bit further as she is required to keep her job totally undisclosed to family to keep them safe. This is necessary when your job is to keep the identity and location of your witnesses a secret and hot on their heels are criminals trying to shut them up. Read the rest of this entry »

Television will never be the same since the 21st century started. These days, it is quite difficult to find out what people actually watch. With the numerous shows available at the click of a button, it has become difficult to predict what will make people put down that remote and watch a TV show for more than 15 minutes. People living a fast-paced lifestyle where they spend so much more time working than relaxing at home also makes it difficult for shows to sustain viewership when most viewers are unable to regularly watch the show. Once they miss one or two, they rarely watch it again even if they have the time because they know it would be unable to follow the current flow of the show. This goes for most soaps and Reality Shows on television.

Reality TV is the newest hit that has taken the television industry by storm for the past several years. Networks are continually finding new concepts to get people glued to the TV. Everyone wants to know what David Archuleta sang this week or who was kicked out of American Idol. There are others who want to know who the reigning American Gladiator is or who is leading the pack in Survivor. Missing any episode of your favorite soap or reality show is not actually a problem. RealityBug.com provides daily written updates of your favorite daytime soap. Even while you work, you can get updates on the shows daily and still be able to understand what is happening in the episode when you have the time to do watch it yourself. RealityBug.com ensures that it can provide viewers with their reality show needs with news and updates as it happens.

So, don’t hesitate to watch or keep current on daytime soap or reality shows even with a tight working schedule. Check out RealityBug.com and find out all you need to know about your TV show.

The first time I watched an episode of Dexter, I was a bit confused at the initial scenes. My brother was watching the series in DVD and was in the middle of of the first season when I saw it. He had to explain the background before I started to enjoy it. This one was different. And that was the reason I enjoyed watching the episodes while I slowly discerned Dexter’s character. While watching, I was in awe at the genius behind the concept and the writers who knew exactly how to reveal Dexter’s character.

Dexter, played by Michael C. Hall of Six Feet Under, is the story of a man orphaned at age 3 and adopted by a Miami Police Officer named Harry Morgan. Harry saw Dexter’s sociopathic tendencies early on. But instead of giving Dexter professional help, he taught the young man to divert his passion into more constructive activities. You see, Dexter dreams of killing people. Like most sociopathic killers, he feels a sense of satisfaction and pleasure at the thought of killing and the sight of blood. Psychologists equate this pleasure to the same feelings normal people experience towards sex. As such, Harry saw to it that Dexter consummate his passion by murdering those “who deserved it.”

Throughout the first season, Dexter kills heinous criminals and serial killers but likewise finds victims that are less deserving than the others. He murders a young alcoholic responsible for multiple vehicular accidents and a nurse that performs euthanasia. Like most sociopathic killers, he kills without flinching and remorse. It makes you wonder what keeps him on the line. What keeps him on the path that his foster father has taken him? Does he actually believe in the moral principles of right and wrong? Or will he let go of his instincts even at the most superficial excuse?

With his thirst for blood, he grows up to work as a blood spatter analyst at the Miami Police Department. This provides him with the information to find serial killers and criminals — a resource for his continuous drive to kill people. The first season deals mostly with the introduction of Dexter’s character as he pursues the ice truck killer. The ice truck killer murders people and leaves the body parts severed in many pieces without a single drop of blood. He communicates with Dexter, leaving clues and signs, and challenges the young analyst to find him. To avoid suspicion, Dexter maintains a friendly demeanor and nurtures a romantic relationship with Rita (a rape victim and single mother) despite his indifference to feelings and sex. I will not divulge the season ender because I know there are still people who have not completed watching the series. As expected of any protagonist, let as just say that Dexter’s deeds remain hidden but threats now exist that could expose his true calling.

Unlike other stories, there are no clear boundaries that distinguish good and evil when you watch Dexter. The audience remains doubtful of his heroism and yet they continue to admire his strength to suppress his inner demons while cheering him on as he saves the innocent from the monsters in society. And the question lingers. How far can he keep his secret? How long can he continue to resist the hunger to draw blood and watch the fear in his victim’s eyes that gives him pleasure and purpose?

We wait and see with bated breath.

 

I have been on a diet for the third week now.  I know I wasn’t going to make my target for our summer outing last week but I was aiming for next year’s summer outing.  I have a lot of extra fats to lose, so I think one year is the ideal time frame to do it.  Doing it too fast would be detrimental to my health, especially my skin — no stretchmarks please!

It has been frustrating trying to look for a cool swimwear before our summer outing. When I went out with my friends, I saw all these great looking two-piece suits that I knew I would never have the guts to wear at the moment with the extra flab I have gained throughout the years.  Why were these not in fashion when I was only 96 pounds?!  This frustration now makes me determined to work on an ideal weight that would give me the license to wear a two-piece suit next year.  Do you think I will make it?  The funny guy in my life laughs at me when I told him what I was aiming for.  I swore to him I would get the last laugh.  I have lost about 6 pounds since I started.  It’s not bad considering that I am aiming for a gradual decline.  I have to work on a program that would not slow down my metabolism.  That meant still eating enough but with less fat and carbo.  I don’t want to totally get off carbo since that could be disastrous for my skin.  At the moment, my skin is the only thing I am grateful for.  If I lose that together with my weight, I might end up looking 10 years older.  So, it’s slow but steady for me.

Wish me luck.  A year from now, I know I can fit into those skimpy swimwear that sexy ladies are flaunting around.

It’s been a while since my last post here so I thought I just share with you something to make you laugh… Who ever said that the recent Bb. Pilipinas Q&A booboo by Janina San Miguel is the worst TV moment in recent history?

Please welcome, Valentina Hasan, singing “Ken Lee” in her audition at “Music Idol”, Bulgaria’s version of the American Idol.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RgL2MKfWTo[/youtube]

For achieving such “fame” during the auditions, Music Idol invited Valentina Hasan to perform “Ken Lee” to a live audience to give her a chance to redeem herself, or at least once again provide “entertainment”…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT18LZItBLA[/youtube]

Everybody now… I Ken Lee…. tilibu dubu duchoo…

Share this laughing trip to your friends!

As season 7 of American Idol progresses, I am glued again to watching pop star wannabes belt out their songs weekly and of course, await Simon Cowell’s interesting critique. Never, in TV history, has there been another character like Simon. He elicits the most unusual responses from me. Sometimes he makes me laugh, other times he leaves me shocked with my breath held for seconds. He is uncouth and abrasive – a refreshing person to listen to amidst the pretentious atmosphere surrounding the entertainment industry. And he especially delivers more comprehensible comments than Paula Abdul’s blabber. More than the singing prowess of contestants, it is Simon that draws me to watch the show.

My favorite contender for the 2008 season, and I’m sure for many other followers, is the 17-year old David Archuleta. Though he didn’t do so well in last week’s performance, he is still the best among all the contenders. I love his rendition of Imagine. Hopefully, he will come up with something just as good this week. So far, he is the singer to beat.

ABC’s new television series, Dirty Sexy Money, premiered in September 2007 delighting audiences with the absurd lifestyle of the rich and famous.  The show presents the life of Nick George, an idealistic lawyer lured to take his father’s job as the personal lawyer of one of New York’s richest families, the Darlings.  Peter Krause plays Nick, who swore never to follow his absentee father’s footsteps and become a slave to the Darlings but ended up eating his words after his father died in a plane crash.  Tripp Darling, the family patriarch, offers the job to Nick for a whopping US$10 million a year for his charity works over and above his regular salary.  Nick justifies accepting the job with the charity money and the chance to discover the circumstances surrounding his father’s mysterious death.

However, being the Darling’s personal lawyer not only entailed handling the family’s legal affairs but also babysitting Tripp’s 5 children.  Babysitting meant getting the kids out of jail, paying ransom to blackmailers for sex tapes, arranging birthday parties, and even giving advice.  The eldest of the Darling children is Patrick (played by William Baldwin), the incumbent attorney general, who is also running for the Senate.  I found Patrick to be the funniest of all the children because of the irony of his situation.  William Baldwin plays the role perfectly as the distinguished eldest son with a big secret.  The big secret made me laugh so hard when I found out in the pilot episode because it involved a mistress who had a voice deeper than Patrick’s.  Patrick’s dilemma is how to keep his transexual mistress under wraps while he is running for the Senate.

I’m not sure what it is about the show that got my interest.  Maybe it’s the unusual lifestyle I never even imagined or the idea that rich people had bigger problems than me.  I was shocked when the youngest children (fraternal twins), Jeremy & Juliet,  held one of their parties spending more than US$10 million.  The location of Jeremy’s party was held on the Brooklyn Bridge which had to be shut off from traffic.  Despite the extravagant celebration, it still ended with Jeremy drunk and singing “All by Myself” while he dangerously trodded on one of the beams of the bridge on the brink of falling off.  Could the filthy rich really be sadder than us normal people?  Most likely.  Like Jeremy, the second child, Karen, had been divorced three times and botched her 4th wedding with a whirlwind annulment which was done 25 minutes after the wedding ceremony.  Apparently, Karen can buy anything she wants, except the love of Nick, her childhood sweetheart who is now happily married.

Another thing that makes the series a hit is its blatant representation of the power of money.  We normal honest working folks always have the pride to say that our value and worth does not have a price.  Can that be true?  Even if Nick insists that he does the job to be able to help more people with his charity funds, is it certain that he is not motivated by the seduction of power and money?  If I was offered a ridiculous sum of money, would I turn it down just to pride myself in thinking that I do not work for a family who flaunt their wealth and use their power for their selfish gains?  Or will I find an excuse to take the job like Nick?

If only to find out how unfair the world is and how ridiculous and absurd the wealthy can be, I suggest you go and watch the show.  I did enjoy it regardless of the inequity in the world it represents.

October 2007 is almost over and it surely has been a pretty interesting month. First, we saw the birth of certifiedblogaholic right here… and just barely a week after, the Glorietta 2 blast that killed 11 people happened coupled with the pardon granted to convicted former president Erap Estrada. Now, let’s top it off with something more alluring like Riza Santos, former Ms Earth-Canada, becoming this month’s cover girl for FHM Philippines. Yup, I’m referring to that stunning beauty queen/housemate that we see on TV everyday in Pinoy Big Brother.

From the few episodes of the show that I’ve seen, Riza Santos has been identified as the love interest of fellow housemate, broken-hearted Will Devaughn. Their love story is slowly blossoming right before the eyes of millions of the PBB followers. This prim and proper “no-boyfriend-since-birth” girl (a.k.a, virgin mary of the house) will surely make every boy - “suicidal, suicidal when she says its over”… So imagine my delight when I stumbled upon the FHM October edition and saw Riza on the cover. Ubër cool. Ubër drool.

Anyway, I did some more research and found this video of the magazine’s photo shoot, watch and drool — er, I mean, be mesmerized. She’s really making me suicidal, suicidal, but in a good way, if there’s such a thing… Read the rest of this entry »

As season 3 of Prison Break begins, fans of the blockbuster tv series eagerly await each episode hoping to find out what Michael Scofield would do to get out of the predicament he now got himself into. After watching the first 4 episodes, my emotions are a mixture of fear, misery and excitement. Michael is back again in prison in Panama and conditions are even worse than ever. This time, he serves sentence for a crime he is not guilty of with only Mahone, T-Bag, and Bellick as company. Lincoln can only help him from outside but is burdened with the kidnapping of his son and Tancredi. The brothers have to free the people they love by communicating only through visitations.

In the first episode, I was gripped with fear. How can a man survive in the Panama Prison (SONA) where there are no guards, barely any food and water, and the way of life is to kill or be killed? Fox River was a hotel compared to where he is now. Once again, Michael has proven himself ingenuous and lucky as he uses his brains to accomplish what needs to be done. I will not spoil it for those who have yet to watch season 3. Let me just say that this is a heartbreaking season for Michael.

On the side, there have been rumors that Wentworth Miller is gay as he was spotted in Los Angeles spending the day with Luke Macfarlane (cast in the tv series Brothers & Sisters). Luke Macfarlane is rumored to be the ex-boyfriend of TR Knight (O’Malley in Grey’s Anatomy). TR Knight officially admitted in October 2006 that he was gay after an argument with Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey occurred in the set of Grey’s anatomy. Wentworth has continuously denied rumors about this sexual orientation, insisting that he is not gay. He claims not to be bothered by the gossip since he is certain about his sexual preference and he doesn’t mind if there are fans who may wish him to be either gay or straight. According to him, all that matters is that they watch Prison Break.

So, which side of the fence are you in? Would you prefer that those deep-set penetrating green eyes of Miller belong to women? Or do you prefer that those same eyes come alive whenever a hunk is around? As for me, I don’t really care as long as Michael Scofield finds a way to get out of Panama.