Category Archives: Filipino American

Filipino American

Pilipinos lub bessball

I’m dreading the morning — after a vacation, a day of jet lag, then three days of packing, moving and unpacking, I’m pretty exhausted. And I’m now in the throes of feeling pregnancy uncomfortableness — swollen, sore feet, sore calves (especially after moving and carrying stuff up and down stairs) and lower back pain. Sigh. But my friend Marc’s status updates caught my eye and made me laugh.

Apparently, Filipino Heritage Nights seem to be all the rage — Dodger Stadium had one recently, which was reviewed here by my buddy Moonie. Now, it appears AT&T Park in San Francisco is going to have one soon, too — however, I only found out about it when Marc (who covers the Yankees), started posting hilarious status updates about it in Facebook.

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Filipino twin sisters separated at birth?

So Trinity and I have been catching up on our shows and we finally watched the Numb3rs episode that was so freakily similar to the Chatsworth train crash. I felt really weird with how similar the crash in the fictional show was to what happened in real life, but was also distracted by this lady, on the right, Lourdes Benedicto. Of course, as I watched, I had no idea she was Lourdes Benedicto. And as I tried to figure out where I’ve seen her before, it hit me — it’s Lonni Rivera! A reporter who used to work at CBS 2/KCAL 9 earlier this year!

Except…it was not. Turns out they just look a LOT alike. Sheesh, they could have been separated at birth.

Hardly any Filipino food at the Filipino festival

OK. I haven’t been to FPAC in a few years, so maybe things have changed. But I am seriously wondering why I took the night off, drove about 60 miles each way and spent $5 admission (somehow I got a $2 discount, even without a Macy’s card) to attend this festival. I was seriously not happy by the end of the day.

Granted, I got there at about 2:15. Hey. CP Time, OK? Or in this case, Filipino time. Whatever. But when I was warned that the wait for food was 45 minutes long, I knew things were already going downhill. Not only that, when we finally got in line, what do I see? Just ONE Filipino food vendor. Out of the FIVE  at the entire festival. Whoever heard of just FIVE food vendors at an ethnic festival? Really?

Food lines at FPAC. Really.

Food lines at FPAC. Really.


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Free Filipino food!

Ahhh, not quite. Sorry. But nothing like mentioning “Free!” to get your attention right?

Anyway, I have finally confirmed I will be at FPAC this weekend – Saturday afternoon, since you’re asking. (There was a kerfluffle about whether I might have to work, but that’s worked out now.) Anyway, I am not really going for one specific thing or reason (other than food and the great location at Pt. Fermin Park in San Pedro), but if you want some guidance, peruse Moonie’s recommendations. If you go, remember admission is $7 a person.

Oh, but if you don’t care for Filipino food, I highly recommend Body Worlds 3, which is in its final weekend here in L.A. Tickets for this event is $18.95 for adults, but its truly worth it.

Filipino-American lifestyle sites make a comeback

Bakit why vs. Pinoylife

My buddy Moonie, who has guest-posted here a few times, finally relaunched Pinoylife.com recently, the wildly popular site he maintained as a hobby for years. However, when I say wildly popular, I must concede I know nothing about the site’s stats, I just assume it was popular because of the large number of comments the crazy guestbook would get. But he shut it down, then relaunched it as Flavor Online, then shut that down….then, nothing for years. However, all the Pinoylifers kept in touch, and via Facebook, Moonie spread the word that it was back online.

Oh, but as it turns out, there’s another site that Leezel (also a Pinoylifer, an AAJA board member and now my coworker) brought to my attention — Bakit Why. The title, if you aren’t Filipino, refers to the Filipino habit of saying the Tagalog word, then repeating it in English. Bakit means why, so you often hear Taglish speakers saying, “ohhh, bakit why?” Meh.

The two sites have aroused my curiousity — well, not Pinoylife so much, since I know what its about. So follow me as I explore Bakit Why and what its all about. Full disclosure: I commented regularly on Pinoylife, wrote a few things for Flavor and decorated and attended Moonie’s wedding. But I think I can be objective.

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