THE COMICON / BARRIO FIESTA / FILIPINO-BRITISH VIDEOKE WEDDING RECEPTION WEEKEND IS AS EPIC AS IT SOUNDS

It's what tests every young married couple: planning for the weekend. Husband wants to go to one place, wife needs to go to another. But they figure things out, and it all works for the best in the end. It's not always rainbows and butterflies it's compromise that moves us along ika nga ni pareng Adam.

The LLDD-Hyphen-L and I faced just such a dilemma last weekend. On the one hand, ComiCon was in town, and I was eager to bring the LLDD-Hyphen-L there to show all the geekfans I met last year that - See! Told you I have a wife! It can be done, I TELL you!!! This year's ComiCon, however, also fell on the same weekend as MOABF (Mother of All Barrio Fiestas) as well as the wedding of a friend of the LLDD-Hyphen-L from back home.

It would've been a real shame to sacrifice attending any of these events, so the LLDD-Hyphen-L and I immediately worked out a schedule: we'd reserve the whole of Sunday for the wedding, request the Saturday afternoon embassy-shift at MOABF, and start off at ComiCon early Saturday morning (I learned from last year that geekfans are an early rising bunch. In fact, ticket prices to ComiCon are twice as expensive at 9.00 a.m. as they are at 11.00 a.m! Late-night afterparties are out of the question for ComiCon goers, I suppose =)

It was potentially a tricky situation, but actually easily resolved by keeping sight of the benefits of each activity. For ComiCon, of course, there was the opportunity to see the world's best-loved superheroes -- the LLDD-Hyphen-L, for instance, got to rub up against no less than Spiderman. . .

That better be his spider-sense that's tingling

. . .while I got the chance to ogle all the fans dressed as Wonder Woman.

Not as much of a thrill as I first thought

Going to MOABF, in turn, was as much a responsibility as a choice as the Embassy traditionally sets up a tent and gets all consular-y for the duration of the event. It's essentially working-on-a-weekend, made worthwhile by the great food, the festive atmosphere, and all the fantastic kababayans you get to meet.

Some of whom also came straight from ComiCon, apparently

As for the Fil-Brit wedding of the LLDD-Hyphen-L's friend, well, the bride and groom already had me when they entered the wedding hall to the tune of Spandau Ballet's "True", but it was their escalatingly epic videoke wedding reception that blew me away. First off, the Pinoy chef comes out of the kitchen in the midst of his cooking to emotionally serenade the couple to the tune of Air Supply's "I'm All Out of Love". Of course he does.

Then, a demographic that you normally don't associate with rap, well, raps.

Later, a kid channeling Michael Jackson somehow makes "My Girl" his own.

Things then come to a head when the Best Man belts out a face-melting rendition of "Living on a Prayer"

And everything is neatly wrapped up when the elders get their groove on.

Such awesomeness. The lesson to every husband out there: never fear the weekend events. Turn off the TV, dust the potato chips off your lap, get off the couch and get yourself to every geek gathering, barrio fiesta and - above all - videoke wedding reception that you can find. See you there!

It's a date!

GLEE ARCHERS

I introduce myself to people as either a La Salle Green Archer or a U.P. Fighting Maroon. It really depends on who has the better basketball team.

So this year...well then, clearly...Hail! Hail! Hail! I'm that easy.

Just as well, as it was the chorale from DLSU that made a surprise visit to the Embassy the other day and rocked the house.

Thoughts:

1) The Embassy has good acoustics, yeah?

2) You didn't see their entrance in the video, but the chorale basically just walked up the narrow embassy staircase in single file, entered the room without breaking ranks, sat themselves straight down (left), engaged in some small talk, stood up and - without changing places - broke into the perfect harmony you hear above. In other words, they moved around, walked and sat in choir formation! I thought this was great! Can't you picture them also lined-up in order around a restaurant table, waiting at the Doctor's office, or being interviewed at immigration? The comedic possibilities are endless!

3) What's up with the dude wearing an Ateneo shirt? Let's hope he's doing it "ironically".

Anyway, The chorale was in town for a special one-night only concert before they headed to an international choir competition in Wales. The choirs from the other countries would have trembled in their sequins if they heard La Salle's Glee-like re-envisioning of some of the all-time classics.

If you're asking what's the connection between indigenous dress and "Hey Jude" -- shut up! Lee DeWyze did it with bagpipes, so shut up! Awesome is awesome! Shut up!

But there really wasn't any reason for me to be upset, seeing as how the DLSU chorale performed superbly that night in London. Standing Os, encores and Animos all around! It came then as no surprise later that week that the grand winner of the choir competition in Wales was announced as no other than . . .

The U.S.T Singers!! Yes!! I always liked them!! They have a good basketball team! And I'm part Tiger too!

On the Jojo Alejar side