BLEACHERS BREW EST. MAY 2006

Someone asked me how my blog and newspaper column came to be titled "Bleachers Brew". It's like this, it's an amalgam of sorts of two things: The bleachers area in the stadium/arena where I used to sit when I would watch baseball, football, and basketball games and Miles Davis' great jazz album Bitches Brew. That's how it got culled together. I originally planned on calling it "The View from the Big Chair" that is a nod to Tears For Fear's second album, Songs from the Big Chair. So there.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

25 Things & Places to see & do before I die


I put this in my facebook and am placing it here. Now this isn't supposed to be some pipe dream but something really doable and probable within your abilities and lifetime.

1. Write for Sports Illustrated or the New York Times. Do I need to write for anyone else? That would make my career complete.

2. Anchor a UAAP basketball game for the Ateneo Blue Eagles. And wouldn't it be even more cool if they were playing for a championship?

3. Join the Smart Gilas team (as a reporter) when they play for a slot in the 2012 London Olympics. When I see an international competition, I somehow think of the late Boston Celtics radio announcer Johnny Most. Ask me why when you see me.

4. Produce that indie film I've been dragging around since 2003. If it does materialize, I was thinking (okay here's that pipe dream part of it; yes, I know what i said dammit bwahahahaha) -- Scarlett Johansson and Tobey Maguire.

5. Watch U2 in concert. Okay, I've seen a lot of bands -- the Cure, Interpol, Reel Big Fish, Thursday, Dave Matthews Band, the Pixies, the Strokes, the Von Bondies, My Favorite, Death Cab for Cutie, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ivy, the Mars Volta and lots more but U2 not yet.

6. See the New York Islanders win the Stanley Cup again. Please God, I will be a good person.

7. Get to meet my favorite New York Yankee Paul O'Niell.

8. Settle down in the Upper West Side of New York City. I so love New York!

9. See Hadrian's Wall and Stonehenge and other ancient Roman ruins and sites. History buff here!

10. Visit Normandy this year (it's the 65th Anniversary of the Allied Invasion of Hitler's Fortress Europe).

11. Retrace the steps of Joan of Arc in France. Yes, like a friend I made in NYC, Michael Grace Jr, I've got this fixation on this French Saint.

12. Live in Italy for a year.

13. Work as a war correspondent in Afghanistan. I'll be my generation's Bill Carter.

14. Work with the BBC when they do those fabulous documentaries such as The Planet Earth and The Blue Planet.

15. Work on an HBO 24/7 Special. Those guys are awesome and they do the best sports documentaries.

16. Put up a nice restaurant in New York City. I went to one in West 4th that seemed so simple and ridiculous but I wonder why not many people do it. Well I'd hate to put the concept here coz some yahoos my steal it. Just wait for it to happen.

17. To write the X-Men or Quasar (seriously! there has to be an unpopular character here for me to say and I find Quasar's concept compelling) for Marvel Comics.

18. I miss walking along the boardwalk in Coney Island where I can have a Nathan's Hotdog and a soda, walk barefoot, watch those samba bands or those pretty girls play beach volleyball. Ride the Wonder Wheel. Some things I take for granted but I totally loved this.

19. Reunite the Smiths.

20. Join a band like Ivy. I miss being in a band. That was my original plan when I was in the US: work, save money, form a band, then gig forever.

21. Watch Versus again. See them release a new album. Then watch them again. And again.

22. Attend the Olympics as a reporter. God, that would be freaking awesome.

23. Work for Al Gore or join some serious org that is out to fight Climate Change.

24. Hit the NY megalotto then give money to several charities, put up a soup kitchen that serves good meals for the homeless and a shelter that helps local communities and deserving people, buy a B-52 bomber and drop bombs on Somalia, the Abu Sayyaf, and other bad dudes. Then with the remainder of my money, save lots in several banks then travel around Europe and not rush. It would be great to stay in places like Monte Carlo, Paris, and Santorini without having to worry about packing bags. I can hear Robin Leach! But I don't like caviar.

25. Watch and see Liverpool win the English Premier League in Anfield. Sit down in the Kop and yell my lungs out. I can die a happy man.

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