All In One Night: France, Italy... and Gotham City?

Saw "Batman Begins" today with my family, my cousins Kuya Jay and Kuya Nanie and my niece, Nene. The movie was good, nothing really special though, considering hollywood movies keep getting better nowadays, specially cinematically. I like how they showed that there was a time when Bruce Wayne was not as invincible as he eventually became when he rose to his Batman persona. Christian Bale is very effective and I'm looking forward to more Batman movies with him. On the other hand, I can't help be annoyed at Katie Holmes' half-smile-half-smirk expression which she never quite got around to losing since her Dawson's Creek days.

destination: gotham city... from www.batbase.com.br/filmes/batman_begins

We had a great time watching the movie but for our family, it wasn't the movie that made our day... it was the simple fact that we actually went on the proverbial "night out in the town". Together-times like this don't happen very often: my dad and I are usually busy, my sister has school whenever I'm free and my mom doesn't really want to go out a lot--she'd rather stay home and cross-stitch. So when the opportunity to go out like this comes, we grab it right away, hence tonight's "night out with the parents".

We arrived at makati a bit earlier than the movie's schedule start at 6:45pm (we reserved tickets through the web--highly recommended when seeing blockbuster movies so as to avoid the long lines and be assured of sitting together and not a dozen rows apart) so we had some snacks first at le coeur de france, a french-style cafe in the mall, before going to the theatre.

The cafe was wallpapered with various oldish posters which i've seen on sale at paris. Am a bit disappointed now i didn't have enough time to shop for at least a couple of these posters for my room and from some friends. I remember they cost around 6 to 15 euro, depending on the size of the poster... will just look at it as another reason to go back to europe in the future...

the heart of france in a styro cup? oh well, that's commercialization for you

at le coeur de france in makati: aileen, nene, and dianne

a light moment at le coeur

kuya jay and pademure na kuya nanie

these are the parisienne posters... i particularly liked "savon le chat"

i just realized with this picture that i really look like my dad

After the movie, we had a late dinner at italianni's, an italian restaurant also in the mall. Although the knee-jerk reaction would be to order pizza and pasta, we had to exercise some caution because my dad's got a heart condition and my mom's diabetic. We ended up ordering a salad for my parents, spaghetti with meatballs for my dad, pork chops and lasagna for us. The food at Italianni's was great... but that's to be expected. The biggest surprises for us were: 1) my fresh grape shake, and 2) dianne's and nene's moccha frapuccinos. Super sarap! Yum, winner sila in my book.

destination: italy

eat. drink. be italian...

kuya nanie, nene, dianne, me, mommy, daddy, kuya jay

masarap ba, dianne?

grape juice and two fraps... in the background my dad STILL reading the frank sinatra DVD...

We gave Dad's Father's Day gift after the salad and while waiting for the spaghetti with meatballs. He liked it the DVD! As in niscrutinize nya ng maigi and pinanuod nya agad pagdating sa bahay. We're watching it as I type this, actually. Buddy Rich's appearance was only for one track but that's ok na din... my dad likes Sinatra din naman plus Buddy Rich's solo, while very bitin, was nonetheless super galing. Worth his billing in the concert on the DVD title cards. Anyway since nasoli na ni Mikoy ang digicam ko, my sister and I were able to take pictures all throughout tonight, not because we felt like tourists, but because we both know it may well be a really long time before something like this happens again. We're both sentimental that way. :-)

opening his Father's Day gift

my sister and me

i forgot who we were laughing at here... malamang si kuya nanie