August 2, 2009

As I welcome the ninth month of the year, al fresco dining and a bit of drinking, District 9, 2NE1, Big Bang, Ogie Alcasid in my ipod, and Noynoy Aquino's candidacy for the presidency, let me share a few pics taken on the first day of my Summer '09 vacay.

Attended Gabby's second first birthday party where I see, for a change, folks in Korea^^

After the party, my nieces and I watched HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE before our dinner in MAX'S with my oldest brother. Tin kept going in and out of the cinema haha.

After an overnight stay at my sister's new house, I moved to Manila where I did/went to the following

August 3,4 and 6: Dinig Sana Kita, The Bagoong Club, Crocodile Grill

August 5: Lino Brocka, Von Arroyo, Rianne Hill Soriano

More Summer '09 vacation stories coming up...

All Quiet on the Western Front

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS by TARANTINO is a WWII film that is currently number one in the US box office.

Here's a classic WWII film, circa 1930, Oscar Best Pic & Director winner, and also included in IMDB's Top 250 films of all time, ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, adapted from a German novel and was recreated for TV, radio, and another film due this year is rumored to be on the works.

Enjoy it via youtube for free~

More Birthdays!

1) Doms

Doms with his "Bible" in this year's UP Fair.

2) Don

Don's very first pic in Korea, also this year.

3. Park Jae Hwon


My boss's son is celebrating his first birthday with a lunch party in Aqushia, an eat-all-you-can buffet restaurant in downtown Okpo. I should be preparing now as I have yet to get him a gift~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Y'ALL!

Happy QC Day!

Quezon City plays a big part of my life. My entire university stay was spent in this city and after graduation, I have spent a couple of more years in the city. Then I moved to out of the country but whenever I could, when I go home for vacation, I almost always drop by or stay in QC.

Last summer vacation, I spent most of my time in the Philippines in QC. Specifically, I stayed at the alumni hostel of my university.

Here's my pics in the university cinema last August 5 when I checked out the Pandayang Lino Brocka, a free Political and New Media Film Festival to support my director friends.

I got to see my friend Rianne Soriano and her star for her short film Pera-Perahang Lata. In a couple of months, she will be back in Korea for her Asian Film Academy training. See you soon again Rianne and hope you get your new passport! Get an international driver's license so you can drive around Korea!


And oh, TODAY IS QUEZON CITY DAY!~

May They Rest in Peace

Four days after returning from our Summer break, there have been four deaths in our company.

Last Friday, 3 unlucky yard workers passed away due to some (un)safety incidents, at least one of which involves the crane.

The next day Korea's first fatality due to A(H1N1) flu happened to be another employee of our company. Here is his picture from his employee records in our portal:

Excerpt from the news:

"On Saturday, a 56-year-old man infected with the virus died of acute pneumonia and blood poisoning. He had recently returned from a trip to Thailand."

May their souls all rest in peace.

Summer Holidays '09 As Seen By Others

August 3

As President Cory Aquino's body was moved from Greenhills to Manila Cathedral, I also moved from my hometown to my university where I watched award winning Cinemalaya pics.

I was indeed lucky enough to meet Dinig Sana Kita (DSK) director Mike Sandejas who got me a ticket in his already sold out screening. I met most of his family and had another memorable screening of a Sandejas film in UP. The other one takes me back to 2007 when straight from Boracay, I would watch his first feature film Tulad Ng Dati (now out on DVD!) and right after the screening see The Dawn perform right in front of UP Cine Adarna. Mike's film and screenings are both awesome so far!

Here are 3 pics during the DSK screening grabbed from Zoe Sandejas's facebook. She is the very talented lead actress of the film. The other lead actor noteworthy of mentioning is Rome Mallari, a real deaf yet very talented person. He happens to celebrate his birthday yesterday.. Happy birthday man!

To lead is to serve. Zoe, in yellow, happens to be an active student leader in her hgh school.

I had to wait my turn to tell her she will be a big star soon and of couse have our pic taken~

I gamely smiled for the DSK cam!

August 4

After seeing all 4 Cinemalaya films screened in UP (including a chance sighting of Carlo Mendoza!), I braved the tropical rains and headed to Bagoong Club in Tomas Morato Avenue, Quezon City to have dinner with my dorm friends.

Here are pics from Ebe's facebook:

Very good Filipino food with very good prices and with very good friends. It's as perfect as the fried chicken with bagoong!

Doms left after dinner and we met up with Berns who came straight from brainstorming her latest film project (clue: Mommy Dionisia, Erap, Ai Ai) for coffee.

August 6

We took the Italian Embassy's guest tix for the Silent Film Festival in Edsa Shangrila CInema. This pic from Ebe is taken after the psychedelic screening synched with the music of Kalayo (formerly Pinikpikan Band) and after the Crocodile Grill dinner where I also met up with my prospective dealer of Lena's Samsung Jet phone.

I am sporting a yellow G Shock for Tita Cory!

More vacation stories to follow in the coming days...

Things Are Not Lookng Good In Our Company

Me in front of one of our ships exactly a couple of years ago, July 26, 2007.

Daewoo Shipbuilding Headquarters Raided

By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Investigators raided the Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) headquarters in central Seoul, Monday, seizing accounting books and computer hard drives according to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

The search was conducted mainly on financial departments and they confiscated documents and other material related to the company's accounts and contracts. They also searched its branch in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province.

The raid came weeks after a former executive director of the shipbuilder identified as Hong, 51, was indicted for allegedly taking 700 million won in bribes in return for providing favorable treatment to subcontractors.

Lee Chang-ha, 53, a renowned architect and ex-executive of DSME, was also accused of receiving bribes.

The raid has raised speculation that the prosecution is looking into whether the company has been operating a slush fund, as the investigation has now expanded to become a company wide one.

However, DSME denied the allegations. ``How can a company under creditor control create a slush fund,'' said a company spokesman.

Last October, Hanhwa Group signed a contract to take a major stake in DSME with its creditors, but recently abandoned the planned acquisition due to a lack of funding.

meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr

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Besides this, my fellow Filipino engineers whose contracts are about to expire are currently praying for extension of contract. Last week our HR team told some of them that not everyone will be handed new contracts.

Recession has taken its toll.


I WISH ALL THE FILIPINO ENGINEERS IN OUR COMPANY THE BEST OF LUCK!

MAY GOD BLESS US ALL