8 things to look forward to in '08

Better movies

I predict 2008's going to be a great year for moviegoers (and it better be, after the dismal cinematic fare 2007 served up). Because we're a bit behind on US holiday releases (thanks to the stupid Metro Manila Film Festival), we have several critically acclaimed films to look forward to early this year, including I Am Legend, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, American Gangster, 3:10 to Yuma, Atonement, No Country for Old Men, I'm Not There, Charlie Wilson's War, Juno, Across the Universe, Love in the Time of Cholera, and There Will Be Blood. Summer blockbusters also promise to deliver the goods, with the likes of The Dark Knight, Sex and The City, Iron Man, Speed Racer, WALL-E, and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian hitting theaters in 2008.

There were some films I didn't catch in theaters in 2007 (and some that didn't and might never show locally at all), so I want to get the DVDs of the following to add to 2008's viewing pleasure: Eastern Promises, Gone Baby Gone, Superbad (yes, Superbad), Michael Clayton, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Persepolis, The Savages and The Great Debaters.

More books

My reading list this year is populated with Pulitzer and Man Booker winners, New York Times "Best of" titles, a couple of contemporary classics, and some philosophical works. My goal is to finish more than half of the books on my list before the year is up, so expect more "bookworm progress reports" throughout 2008.

Must-see TV

There's the finale of the Amazing Race Asia Season 2 (go Marc and Rovilson! woot!), the premiere of American Idol Season 7, the Asian premiere of Damages on AXN, the Golden Globes (with the tightest competition I've seen in years), and-- unless the Writers Guild strike drags on and forces the Academy to cancel it-- the Oscars (I'm gunning for a back-to-back win in our sibling betting pool).

Series I need to upload/find pirated DVDs of: Season 4 of Boston Legal, Season 4 of House, Season 3 of Two and a Half Men, Season 2 of Heroes, Season 1 of Ugly Betty (I know, I know, I'm so behind), Season 1 of Pushing Daisies, and Season 1 of The Tudors.

Weddings galore

Predictably, a lot of people I know are getting hitched during this presumably auspicious year of '08, starting with my high school classmate JB on January 6 (1-6-8!), followed by my college blockmate and fellow LM girl Nikki on April 13, my high school kabarkada Mishy on October 12, my college buddy and jabroni Mike on November 29, and another high school kabarkada, Jo on December 7. The tolling wedding bells are giving me a splitting headache already.

Family reunion

For the first time in about 6 years, the Family will be reunited when our Canadian kitten Be returns to Manila in December, in time for Jo's wedding. She'll be bringing her hubby Dave, whom we are all looking forward to meeting. Hopefully, we'll be able to schedule a Family trip while Be is in town.

Milestones

This year marks my parents' 30th year in business (30! damn!), so they're planning a company excursion for our employees. The last company outing was 5 years ago, and it was a fun-filled day at Enchanted Kingdom. I wonder where we'll be going this year...

Also, it will be my dad's 60th birthday in May, so that calls for another celebration (even if he's feebly insisting he doesn't want a big party :p). Plus, my brother will (*crossing my fingers*) finally graduate from UP this March. This Year of the Rat is bound to be a memorable one for the 2 Rats in our family.

More mileage points

As early as now, I already have 2 trips planned for 2008: one to Hong Kong on January 16, for the Hong Kong Fashion Fair, and another to Kuala Lumpur during Holy Week, for Elianto business and some pleasure (as much pleasure as can be had with my mom's high school classmates, that is 0_o). In addition, I'm guessing a trip to Cebu is called for sometime this year, since I have yet to see our new stores in SM Cebu's Northwing, and if Bens ends up going to Beijing to study like Hanks and I did, then we'll probably visit him there sometime around his birthday in November.

The Beijing Olympics

We've given up hope of scoring tickets to the opening ceremonies on August 8 (8-8-8!), but I'm still looking forward to watching the live coverage of what will surely be the year's most spectacular sporting event (ok, maybe second only to the Ateneo-La Salle games, haha). Unfortunately, since Solar Sports is now no longer available on Sky Cable, we first need to figure out how to get the live coverage. That, or the great Benito Lim produces Olympics tickets as miraculously as he does UAAP tix.