In the PH, the hit song "Pantropiko" was the first song composed by Angelika Sam Ortiz, a film major. Already with 45M streams on Spotify and 16M views on YouTube, the summer-themed song has made PH girl group BINI the most popular P-Pop group in the country, even more popular than SB19 and BGYO.
My favorite LA story is how my next door neighbor in SF, an old lady who left Saigon decades ago, begged me to help her locate her favorite Saigon Chinese sausage shop. It was somewhere in LA. With no clues other than where it had been in Saigon and ONE word, I found it! (With the help of many Vietnamese Chinese people in LA)
It was in Rosemead, and her eyes lit up when I brought some back to her. ‘Nothing else like it,’ she said.
One man dead in suspected #Indonesia tiger attack, hunt ongoing in Riao province, Sumatera. #tootsea
Tigers used to kill durian collectors as they carried the huge ripe fruits in baskets on their backs. Durian was the only fruit wild tigers loved enough to get close to humans.
Made some #chicken#curry for our family #dinner tonight. Made it medium spicy as my middle brother doesn't like super spicy. We're having it with jasmine rice.
I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that Sabah also has a bamboo pole dance similar to the Philippines' Tinikling or Singkil. This one is called Magunatip.
Drawing on happy memories, like the chance to go back to Malen's for their unforgettable beef caldereta and discovering this spacious, pretty cafe in Imus, Cavite that serves good coffee (branding is impressive, too).
I have a half baked idea of how LA/SF for me is like my relationship with KL/SG. LA reminds me a lot of KL / Klang Valley with how it’s laid out. Getting to explore it brings me as much joy as exploring KL/PJ did. (Even the car-centrism and infra and buildings and food scene comparisons feel samey to me)
Getting to explore LA / KL and leave my smaller more annoying city (SF / SG) sometimes is also a fun parallel. :)
Ok a Thai friend took me to a Thai place in LA for Thai spicy, and let's just say it's 2x spicier than Thai spicy in SF (even at my fave places, ordered in Thai)... and as spicy as in Isaan, Thailand.
I think the scariest thing is I often use this particular monorail line. Usually on Wednesdays. If it had been tomorrow...
Unfortunately one person died in this incident 😔