26 June 2007
Redirect: The End
Go here: ltbluecity.
No last words or anything. Just statistics.
All the content in this blog, namely all the text in the posts and their titles, including this last post, add up to 16,818 words. That's 94,956 characters without spaces. All in 576 days and 44 posts.
The tagboard may live on. Not that I'm hoping.
posted by DJ at 20:38 |
11 June 2007
Contemplating on Why People Blog
Why do people blog? Simple. To express themselves. To show their identities, share their experiences. Funny people make funny blogs. Serious people make serious blogs. Emo people make emo blogs. Nerds make nerdy blogs. Stupid people.. well. They make stupid blogs.
Why do people, like me, like to start new blogs? There are several reasons.
For me, I'd like to start anew to reflect some big changes in my life recently. Yes, huge. I'm not going to go senti with a new blog. Well. At least I'll try my best. But I no longer go senti for long periods of time these days anyway. The only thing holding me back is the past of this blog. I look at the archives, and it makes me think twice about starting a new blog when I see:
* November 2005
* December 2005
* January 2006
* February 2006
* March 2006
* July 2006
* August 2006
* September 2006
* October 2006
* November 2006
* December 2006
* January 2007
* February 2007
* March 2007
* April 2007
* June 2007
Wooow. Few people have blogs that last that long. Something to brag about. Something to prove my loyalty (just figure it out). Or perseverance, if I am really persevering, but I think not.
Another thing holding me back is the blog layout. Can I do any better than this? I've not used Photoshop, nor worked with CSS and HTML for so long now. Yet I want my own layout for my own blog.
How about other people? Maybe they're following trends. "Hey, everyone's going Wordpress now, why shouldn't I?" Or they don't want people reading their previous posts. For me, I don't really care about that one. Lastly, maybe they just want the nice feeling of starting with a clean slate. Which applies for me.
That's it for now. I'll be online a lot more often now, now I've got broadband. I think I'll be posting more often too, but I won't be saying it.
I'll go continue contemplating on the meaning of life. Wanna join me?
posted by DJ at 21:48 |
09 June 2007
Name Numerology
--
You entered: Don Jazzper Jiz de Ortega Ramones
There are 28 letters in your name.
Those 28 letters total to 142
There are 11 vowels and 17 consonants in your name.
What your first name means:
Scottish Male Diminutive of Donald: Great cheif, world mighty. From the Gaelic Domhnall. The name Donald has been borne by a number of early Scottish kings. Famous Bearers: Billionaire Donald Trump; actor Donald Sutherland.
Italian Male Diminutive of Donato: Present.
Irish Male Diminutive of Donovan: Brown-haired chieftain. From an Irish surname meaning dark brown.
English Male A diminutive of Donald, meaning world mighty, or Donovan, meaning dark brown. Frequently used as a name on its own.Abbreviation of any name beginning with Don-. In mythology the Irish Donn was known as king of the underworld.
Celtic Male Dark stranger.
Anglo-Saxon Female Mother goddess.
Your number is: 7
The characteristics of #7 are: Analysis, understanding, knowledge, awareness, studious, meditating.
The expression or destiny for #7:
Thought, analysis, introspection, and seclusiveness are all characteristics of the expression number 7. The hallmark of the number 7 is a good mind, and especially good at searching out and finding the truth. You are so very capable of analyzing, judging and discriminating, that very little ever escapes your observation and deep understanding. You are the type of person that can really get involved in a search for wisdom or hidden truths, often becoming an authority on whatever it is your are focusing on. This can easily be of a technical or scientific nature, or it may be religious or occult, it matters very little, you pursue knowledge with the same sort of vigor. You can make a very fine teacher, or because of a natural inclination toward the spiritual, you may become deeply emerged in religious affairs or even psychic explorations. You tend to operate on a rather different wavelength, and many of your friends may not really know you very well. The positive aspects of the 7 expression are that you can be a true perfectionist in a very positive sense of the word. You are very logical, and usually employ a quite rational approach to most things you do. You can be so rational at times that you almost seem to lack emotion, and when you are faced with an emotional situation, you may have a bit of a problem coping with it. You have excellent capabilities to study and learn really deep and difficult subjects, and to search for hidden fundamentals. At full maturity you are likely to be a very peaceful and poised individual.
If there is an over supply of the number 7 in your makeup, the negative aspects of the number may be apparent. The chief negative of 7 relates to the limited degree of trust that you may have in people. A tendency to be highly introverted can make you a bit on the self-centered side, certainly very much self-contained . Because of this, you are not very adaptable, and you may tend to be overly critical and intolerant. You really like to work alone, at your own pace and in your own way. You neither show or understand emotions very well.
Your Soul Urge number is: 5
A Soul Urge number of 5 means:
The 5 soul urge or motivation would like to follow a life of freedom, excitement, adventure and unexpected happening. The idea of travel and freedom to roam intrigues you. You are very much the adventurer at heart. Not particularly concerned about your future or about getting ahead, you can seem superficial and unmotivated.
In a positive sense, the energies of the number 5 make you very adaptable and versatile. You have a natural resourcefulness and enthusiasm that may mark you as a progressive with a good mind and active imagination. You seem to have a natural inclination to be a pace-setter. You are attracted to the unusual and the fast paced.
You may be overly restless and impatient at times. You may dislike the routine work that you are engaged in, and tend to jump from activity to activity, without ever finishing anything. You may have difficulty with responsibility. You don't want to be tied down to a relationship, and it may be hard to commit to one person.
Your Inner Dream number is: 11
An Inner Dream number of 11 means:
You dream of casting the light of illumination; of being the true idealist. You secretly believe there is more to life than we can know or prove, and you would like to be provider of the 'word' from on high.
posted by DJ at 17:49 |
25 April 2007
Summer Hate
Electric fans don't work in summer as well as in other times of the year because in the first place there's no cool air to circulate or fan. While in other times of the year I can live without a fan, the lack of moving air during summer is stifling. And I bet the aircon repair shops are very busy now. It's so hot that a lot of aircons simply give up.
It's sort of unfair to live in a tropical country. Yeah, each latitude has its own advantages and disadvantages, but the tropics seem to get more of the disadvantages. While northern countries enjoy four seasons, with all the snow, beautiful fall and mild summer, here we are stuck with two damn seasons: hot and rainy. And what gives you a nice tan in the north gets you sunburned here.
There's a reason I love Antarctica.
So what I have done so far this summer? Read two books, watched dozens of movies, and kept track of the Myx Daily Top Ten for weeks. Not much else. It's a boring summer - as usual.
[ 40th entry. ]
posted by DJ at 13:44 |
04 March 2007
Creative
Project Gimmick
We had to shoot some videos for the "Pisay Meets World" SocSci project, and since we're doing some world-class project, we need to do some high quality, professional-looking videos. And you need realistic, fitting settings for that.
Of course, if you're pretending to be a doctor in your video, you had to shoot the video where doctors are supposed to be. In our case, we had to shoot in some hospital in Makati where we didn't ask permission and there was a security camera in every corner. We didn't want the guards coming after us and our camera, so we had to do the shooting fast. But still, because we're good, we're able to take a scene that looks as if it was taken from Grey's Anatomy.
Our project involved each one on the group imitating, or just looking like, some professional. Since we had very different roles, we had to shoot in very different places, and that brought us to many places. Also, since we're going places, why don't we have fun in the process, and afterwards?
That brought me to these places in one day: Pisay, a McDonald's branch somewhere in the Fort, Airplane Park near Villamor Airbase, some building under construction in the Fort also, Powerplant Mall, Makati Medical Center, Robinson's Galleria and SM Megamall.
It's Over
Regular classes for this school year just ended yesterday. Second year is so fast. Yesterday I was still a freshman, today I'm a sophomore, and tomorrow I'm already a junior.
This is weird, but I would like to thank everyone whom I met and helped me along the way. Rosal, classmates, class clowns, friends, close friends, best friends, better friend, afternoon friends, teachers, cool teachers, great teacher, boring teachers, Martians, those I know and who knows me from Adelfa, Camia, Champaca, Dahlia, Ilang-Ilang, Jasmin, Sampaguita, people from Inkwell whom I hardly knew, people from Computron whom I never met, the cool people from SaMaPi, the moderators of these clubs, soccer players, the only person I know from 2010, his band, Joaquin family, all the families, Paperview, Outlaw, Closed, Last Minute, Dalandan Soda, Shift Control, Aleta Band Project, Tatlong Tinidor, The Nerve, Pre-Eminent, Ice Cream Mundae, Pedicab, Paramita, Up dharma Down, Giniling Festival, Radioactive Sago Project, Juan Pablo Dream, Brownman Revival, Datu's Tribe, Urbandub, Sandwich, Imago, 6 Cycle Mind, Hale, Pupil, Typecast, Chicosci, Eraserheads, Orange and Lemons, Parokya ni Edgar, Rivermaya, Bamboo, all the other bands and artists I've heard whom I failed to mention or don't want to mention, anyone else whom I've talked to, seen, heard. Maraming salamat.
Okay, that read like an album "would like to thank" note. Anyway. Third year na. Ikatlong taon ko na sa Pisay. Teka, may perio pa nga pala! May intrams pa! May Rosal at (possibly) Topaz year-end parties/gimmicks pa!
"Anger is the feeling that makes your mouth work faster than your mind."
- Evan Esar
posted by DJ at 00:16 |
12 February 2007
First Discs of 07
Giniling Festival's Self-Titled Debut Album
I would describe GF's music as metal or punk rock instrumentals adorning very catchy vocals (to the point of recognizing them as familiar nursery rhyme melodies) with lyrics you'd never want your 5 year old brother to hear. To make it simpler, it's Parokya ni Edgar or Kamikazee, twice the fun, twice the heaviness of sound, and twice the explicit content.
They've just released their self-titled debut under Terno Recordings (who dubbed them as the "heroes of indie rawwk"). This 12-track disc is full of deafening distortions, demonic guitar shreds, ear-bleeding guitar work and the Filipino word for s***. Not to mention vocals that you'd like to hear your little sister to sing, if it were not for the not-so-nice words.
The CD packs mostly non-stop, high energy tracks but does have a couple of light but nevertheless fun songs (focus on the title of the song, "Letter to Angelina Jolie"). Then watch out for the 'hidden' credits track, and remember that in the not-so-distant past, Pisay was called Sayans.
6 Cycle Mind's Home
This 11-track album is somewhat disappointing for me, and I expect a lot of other Minders to be frustrated with this third album too. The reason? The 6cycle we've come to know as heavy-rocking pop rock band has just released an album full of songs you may have heard your father or mother sing. And by that I mean this is an album of 6cycle's versions of classic songs such as the Beatles' Across the Universe and the old Be My Number Two (and of course, their current single, Prinsesa).
After the disappointment of hearing no rock songs in the whole disc (yes, there's no original composition here), I eventually came to appreciate those soft melodies which are, after all, nice melodies you'd love to hear when you're being senti. They won't be called classics for nothing anyway.
The Fourth Album
I'm looking forward to Urbandub's fourth album, which I expect to be released sometime this year, given that Birth was released in 2001, Influence in 2003 and Embrace in 2005. In the meantime, I think I'll have to go get a copy of Pedicab's Tugish Takish. I seem to have acquired an interest in fun, dancable, alternative tunes lately. "Happy Metal".
posted by DJ at 20:33 |
21 January 2007
January Days
I'm escaping in a different way
January Days by Chicosci
New Year's Day really sucked. It was damn boring, nothing special happened whatsoever. I can't differentiate it from any regular Sunday trip to the mall. The only interesting thing is that I was able to buy Chicosci's self-titled album that day. And it's just a coincidence that the last track of the album which is stuck in my mind right now is titled January Days.
Back To Life, I Mean School
I hadn't really thought of making a New Year's resolution until I realized how much I sucked during the third quarter, grading period if you like, and so I have to work much harder if I really want to go up the stage on PSHS Foundation Day 2007. I'm not really that determined to be in the DL, but of course I'd love to see my name on that list.
I need to work, I mean study, really hard now. Without the inspiration.
Chicosci
The most interesting part of Chicosci's music is the lyrics. That is the unique thing about them: their words are like no other. It's because Chicosci loves metaphors, and they're good at using it.
Take their fourth album for instance. It's a concept album - that is, it's a coherent piece of work with an idea and an attitude. The idea is a nice one - all the songs contain messages delivered as if it were a vampire's words. It appears that Chicosci is so obsessed with vampire lore that they write songs as if they're bloodsuckers themselves. And that's the album's idea.
My description of the album might have conjured images of dark, brooding and morbid songs and lyrics in your mind. Yes it is, though that's not the whole story. See for yourself - here's the lyrics of Sweet Maria, which is by the way one of the more interesting songs in the album.
Bless this night
I'm entering the fold
With everything to lose
And I'll be ready for the end
With both guns blazing
Nothing can stop this war tonight
Can you be my shelter?
Your suicide kisses will be mine
Sweet Maria
Guide these bullets in the air
Beautiful clash
I'm a blinded fool again
And I'll be cut and bruised
A lovely blade run through my neck
My landmine valentine
These silver bullets will open your eyes
And I'll be here breathing
Your suicide kisses will be mine
Sweet Maria
Guide these bullets in the air
Three more in the chamber and I said
Sweet Maria
Grace this moment, hear my prayer
I feel you beside me
Touch me I tremble
My final dance
This means everything, everything to me
See? Can you see how the song takes the story of a soldier leaving for war and talking to his loved one for the last time, then rewrites it so that it becomes the story of a vampire going to a duel to the death?
That's the magic of Chicosci.
2nd World Pyro Olympics
You didn't get to watch that? Aww, too bad. You just missed the greatest show on earth.
Well, maybe, that's exaggerated, but it's not far from that. You don't get to see that kind of pyrotechnic displays everyday, not even on New Year's Eve! Yes, it's that beautiful.
I was able to watch four of the ten shows: US, Spain, China and the last one which I'm not sure if it's just the Philippines or the Philippines and all the other participants (if you've seen it, you'd really doubt. The last show was just too big and complicated and beautiful to be just the work of one country. Not even the glorious Philippines.) The most interesting part of it is that, to me, their shows somehow reflected their nation's image. US had a somewhat diverse show, with a shock and awe finale. Spain focused more on timing and lights (or brightness), somehow achieving a romantic atmosphere. China played it really big - their shells (the contest's term for the fireworks) was so complicated and huge that each one was quite as specacular as a couple of the previous two countries'. And the colors - you can see how red and yellow dominated. The colors of the Chinese flag.
The last show, however, was like a finale from the very beginning. It was a long shock and awe show, maintaining the same level of intensity from start to end. And the variety - the show took some unique fireworks from the other countries and fired it. Lots of it. Which led me to conclude that the last show wasn't really just the Philippine's work - it's a collaboration of all the participants. A fitting end to such a great show of pyrotechnic mastery.
By the way, the last show ended with the same long-lasting, slowly falling flares that was the best part of the 1st WPO's last show (which was clearly solely Philippine's work). There was less of it however, and all the massive shells that fired off before it took away its glory.
Eragon
I love this film, and somewhat hate it at the same time. I hate it because there's nothing new with this film, or story for that matter. A lot of things are predictable. Yeah, there are still some things that quite surprise you, like Arya's somewhat premature rescue (it happened sooner that I expected). But still at times you can predict what will happen next.
But then I love this film because it's a somewhat fresh look at the old story of dragons. The story focused on the adventure of one dragon and her one rider. The last dragon for that matter, and the only hope of the good forces. Sounds pretty much like a plain old fantasy story. But still, it worked. Perhaps because the story had powerful emotions - you can't help but feel sad at least as Brom takes on his final ride at the back of a dragon flying under the moon. Although you probably expect that Saphira will not die, you can feel her pain as she suffers from her wounds and crashes to the ground - and that's a dragon!
That's how the film adaptation of Eragon worked. By connecting you to the story, and the characters.
--
Now you are my beloved ghost
And here I’ll wait for you to sing
A Promise by Chicosci
posted by DJ at 02:05 |
31 December 2006
The Last of 2006
Don't be fooled by the title; I'm not going to write all about 2006, or even just summarize the year. Yes, I don't like that either. Just two dates: March 17 and December 8.
Looking back, not to 2006 but rather to my last blog posts, I realized I've missed a lot of writing. To help you miserable creature to understand what I'm talking about, for example, I've not written anything about the batch outing/outbound trip last November 3. Writing about it now would really be awkward, being really late. But the more important point is, not all memories are sweet...
I'm not writing about the batch Christmas Party for the same sad reason. I simply didn't enjoy that day, or night.
Bias aside, honestly, it's only the Rosal party that I really enjoyed (it's not about my bestfriend, better friend...). Really fun night. But I'm not giving details either, so I'm leaving it to Haha's or Theia's blog. I've not checked those out, but chances are you'll find a really, and I mean it, really detailed account of the Rosal party.
As for my Christmas vacation, I think there's only one thing I did that made sense.
How does it feel to be the uninvited yet (somewhat) expected and warmly welcomed guest of a Christmas party? Fun, of course.
I enjoyed my second Christmas party at my former school, good old St. James Academy. We met Ms. G (mysterious, eh?), old friends, old teachers (I mean, former teachers), the security guards, janitors, other people, blah blah. But it was really fun.
What else. Uhm. Oh, by the way, New Year is my favorite holiday. And perhaps New Year's Eve (uhm, now?) is one of the most exciting time of the year. Before I finish this sentence I can hear at least five firecrackers fired off outside my house. Exciting.
For the past week I've been living a really nocturnal life. Blame the telecast of Myx! Mo 2006. I somewhat regret now staying up all night, or nights and mornings, for that show, really. If it wasn't only for some really nice performances from my fave bands, I would have really preferred living that week the normal way. The normal way: sleeping in one continuous stretch of time, not sleeping from 6pm to 11pm and 6am to 3 pm.
I'm damn excited about buying Chicosci's self-titled fourth album. I've missed a lot of chances already to buy it, and I'll certainly get it tomorrow. When I get it, I think it will be the 'darkest' album I've ever listened to - I recently read an article in a certain song mag in which Yael of SpongeCola reviews Chicosci's latest album (and Miguel of Chicosci reviews SpongeCola's Transit, but that's rather uninteresting). From there I learned that Miggy is not demonic or Satanic as someone had told me, but rather simply interested in "vampire lore and horror flicks". That explains the lyrics of A Promise, and the video of Seven Black Roses - ever wondered why A Promise goes like, "and then we'll feast on them, celebrating"? According to Yael's review, Chicosci "is a straightforward concept album, "filled to the brim with allusions to vampire lore and horror flick imagery". Which makes it all the more interesting. And why my Y!M status have always been "a promise".
Happy New Year everyone.
"I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it."
- Terry Pratchett
posted by DJ at 18:38 |
15 December 2006
87 Friend Requests and Why My Post Titles Are Like Panic!/Fall Out Song Titles Even Though I'm Not Their Fan
- OPM addict
Since I've got nothing else to do I might as well post more often. I mighty try, I mean. The problem there is because I've got nothing else to do, I've got nothing to post about. Something that makes sense, at least. My solution: write down my contemplations on the meaning of life. But they're so long I have no immediate plans of publishing stuff that can make me the next Dalai Lama. Heh. Just kidding.
Friendster can be so funny and sarcastic at times you know.
Jomar: you have a good 331 friends.
DJ: you only have 28 friends. Beh! Loser!
- Friendster
You can see why it took me so long to appreciate Friendster. There are just so many... uhm... weird things there.
The profile contents are sometimes nonsense - for example, you know you're not supposed to fill up the company part of the profile. You don't have to type down, "I'm not working yet/I have no company/etc." (and waste Friendster's webspace). Unless they're entertaining, of course.
Company: Level-Up Games
- young PC game addict who obviously doesn't work yet
Location: Antarctica
- anonymous
Friendster can also amaze you.
Urbandub is your friend.
Cool!
P.S. I currently have 28 friends and 87, yes you saw that right, 87 friend requests. Please support my cause by adding me, if you haven't done so yet. Testimonials are very much appreciated also. Not that I really need any of these.
posted by DJ at 03:33 |
03 December 2006
How This Blog Withstood the Test of Time (Or Why the Heck It's Already A Year Old)
Anyway, ignore the previous paragraph. Now that I've written it I'm quite unsure if that's what I really meant.
So the title applies for those two first paragraphs. I tell you, the post entry has no connection at all to anything that follows.
You see I'm not posting that frequently anymore. Blame two games - Need for Speed Underground 2 and SimCity 4 Rush Hour (I'm almost done with the former and currently struggling with the latter. You gotta see my fully upgraded, 10-star Celica). Nice games, full of eye candy, it runs--
I've got to stop there. Or else you'll never visit my blog again, for the same reason you don't visit Vitug's blog.
To talk about something that finally makes sense, the Family Camp, uhm, I can't really tell how I feel about it. People had various reactions to my "costume" (brown suit with matching hat - not really a costume in its full sense). One said it was cool, another said it made me look old, two OPM enthusiasts told me I looked either Pupil's Dok Sergio or Sandwich's Mong Alcaraz. I thought I looked like the Mafia's boss - I was the only one in the Mafia group who had a non-black "costume".
The night was mostly boring. The only part of the activities I liked was the paper airplane making and flying contest, in which I had a part. Rosal certainly had an edge - an aviation enthusiast and his father on the team was all we needed. No wonder we finished the game in less than half the time it took the second best team.
The fun began at about midnight, when the events were finally finished. When the "silent" (not really) movie-showing commenced, and when I watched, played an electric guitar, watched again, walked around and repeated these activities until sunrise. That's what's fun for me. I mastered Urbandub's Fallen on Deaf Ears on the guitar that morning, by the way. Not that it matters.
Yes, I didn't sleep. I didn't sleep well also the night before the camp. Which is why I was half-asleep for most of the time since sunrise until the camp's end.
That afternoon I went back to my former school, good old St. James Academy. There was a Battle of the Bands there. I thought Pisay already had a lot of musically-inclined and talented people, until I watched 11 unexpectedly-good bands from SJA perform. Out of the eleven, there were even three all-girl groups, one of which won, who satisfied me with their excellent rendition of Imago's Akap.
But what really interested me that afternoon was meeting up old friends. What a happy bunch of people.
Right now I keep getting pop-ups from the system tray, telling me a virus has infected my computer. Cool. It's actually a spyware, but look - my system is going nuts about it. It's just a spyware. I'm not hiding anything in my system, there's nothing really worthwhile hackers can find in my PC so what. In fact, without that spyware I wouldn't have written this post; I wrote this post instead of playing Need for Speed or SimCity because I had to download an antivirus program. Thank you, hacker.
By the way, thank you very much Theia for letting me borrow your Bio notebook overnight. Told you, I'm going to mention you in my first post-blog birthday post.
posted by DJ at 00:19 |
13 November 2006
Elegiac
to walk underneath the glorious afternoon sun,
to behold the dimming of the heavens at twilight,
to admire the beautiful stars of the evening sky,
to share the drama of the city lights at night,
to see the slow fire of dawn consume the sky,
with you.
To Someone. "Caught a glimpse of you." And these words came.
posted by DJ at 19:14 |
12 November 2006
A Fair Experience
Auditions
October 20 - auditions for the SaMaPi Battle of the Bands 2006 (actually the second for the year, remember that the last fair and battle of the bands took place just this January). Not really interesting, we couldn't see the people playing, only the band, SaMaPi officials and the judges were allowed inside the room. But it's the Bio room. A band playing inside the Bio room, with all its organism and embryo samples. That's so... Martian.
At least I got a preview of the real Battle of the Bands.
Freaky Friday Fairday
Fast forward seven days. Cool. It's fairday! Okay, to be honest I wasn't really that interested. The only events I waited for are, of course, the Battle of the Bands and the fair concert.
Firstly, the fair grounds last January is better than this fair. I hate the enclosing of the soccer field and the small area around it - makes the fair grounds look small and boring.
Now the booths. I find our booth weird and funny. The 'Juice Bar' (really a misleading name), sells shakes that come in eight flavors, only about four of which are fruits. There are two evil booths - Pie in the Face and the usual Jail Booth. There was actually a Water Balloon Wargames Booth (is it really a booth?), which I never even approached due to its location - occupying the one whole boring end of the fair grounds, just behind the Jail Booth.
Speaking of the Jail Booth, I was never caught in the two days of the fair. Just like last January. (Last fair, I didn't even notice the Jail Booth until the second day!) Well at least the jailers were funnier this time. And more intimidating.
When I arrived at the frontlob in the morning, a few classmates were 'assembling' a "Juice Bar" banner, which was almost never used and, I believe, got destroyed a few hours later. We didn't really do anything during the time given us for setting-up our booth the day before, besides finding our tent and placing a table there. So we crammed setting-up. Typical Pisay. Anyway there's not much to set-up.
But still we had problems. We waited long for a power supply, and when we finally got access to electricity the blenders won't work properly. At least, not the way we want it. Sometimes, to make things worse, the problem was in the operator. Hehe. There were also problems in washing the blenders. Eventually we solved them all, operation was hectic but it worked and we earned much. Hehe. We almost closed down because we ran out of ice, but thanks to Brian and his intelligent idea of asking for ice from the caf, from the very people who sells red lemon iced tea, we were able to continue operating and earning.
I was on-duty from 9 to 11 am. That's two shifts, all we were required. I chose to be on-duty at that early time so I could enjoy the rest of the day. And that was what I did.
For three hours after my shift, I stayed at the gym lobby, playing Jiggs's electric guitar with Benj's effects processor. Cool. How fun. I'm sarcastic. It was the easiest way to stay out of the Jailers' way, I found out. Hehe.
Afterwards, I either just wandered around the fair grounds or played the guitar at the gym. Wait, I actually taught PJ about easy guitar chords and the power chords.
Not much happened until sunset. There was Project Runway. Interesting. Jio's excellent performance at the intermission. Sarcastic. I'm not interested in fashion or anything, but I did like Sir Mardan's outfit.
And of course, the big event of the day. "Appassionato", the SaMaPi Battle of the Bands 2006. And the bands played...
Paperview. The Xavier band, Red Hot Chili Peppers fans (they played two Red Hot songs), funny vocalist, good bassist. I've got a theory why they're called Paperview. I'm sure you noticed what the vocalist was holding while se sang - it's a 'paper', and he's 'viewing' it.
Outlaw. Played Sponge Cola's Jeepney and (omg) Calla Lily's Stars. The children. A Batch 2010 musician and his friends. Hehe. I don't like them.
Closed. Played two original songs (boring). Nice band, poor vocalist.
Last Minute. The only band with 09 members (if I'm right, all batches were represented, including 06 and 05, except 08). Call me biased, but they're good. The first real band to play in this BotB. They played their nice original song called Practice and Fall Out Boy's Sophomore Slump or Comeback of the Year. Only things is, Jiggs didn't play his part well. Poor lead guitars. Hehe.
Dalandan Soda (intermission; guest band). Cool band. Their version of Eraserheads' With A Smile is really interesting. I can't classify their rendition - it was reggae at the verses, rock at the chorus, pop at the rest. Cool.
Shift Control. The 06 band. Half of its members are also members of the two-time Battle of the Bands champion Chocochip, another 06 band. They played nice, all the members have good skills, but I'm not interested in the songs they played.
Aleta Band Project. The La Salle band, played Urbandub's Endless, A Silent Whisper and Bamboo's Hallelujah. One of guitarists is actually Theia's brother. They're really great - they've got an amazing drummer. He was actually able to play the drums of songs of the bands with Philippine's best drummers - that of Urbandub and Bamboo. Funny yet good vocalist. Great band overall, they just lack originality, which some say is what made them lose.
Tatlong Tinidor. Funny guys. I believe they joined just for fun - look at how they played that song. See Theia's blog. Hehe. Entertaining nevertheless.
The Nerve. Good band, though their genre and style is something I'm not interested in. Unlike the judge is, I believe. Which made them win. The have a great vocalist, who by the way idolizes Up dharma Down's vocalist, as I was to find out the next day.
Pre-Eminent. The pros. The old ones. They've got the most expensive equipment - double-bass, professional pedals and everything. They're so good they lost. Hehe. Remember, few people appreciate songs requiring great playing skills. You don't need to be able to play Metallica's Master of Puppets on the guitar to be a good, entertaining guitarist.
Ice Cream Mundae. The 05 band, I believe. They're not bad, but they're not interesting either.
In the end, The Nerve won first place. Shift Control took second. Only those two were called up to the stage - bad thing since Last Minute got third. I hope I didn't forget a band. Hehe.
Freaky Saturday Fairday
It was damn boring that morning. Ilang took over the juice bar, earning their own money in their own way with their own supplies, crew and strategy. By the looks of it, they also earned much.
Someone requested five Urbandub songs from the album Influence. Fallen on Deaf Ears, Soul Searching, Runaway, Versus and A New Tattoo if I remember correctly. Later First of Summer and Endless, A Silent Whisper was played, songs from Embrace. Hmm. I wonder who that is. Sarcastic.
Around noon we had our class picture taking. We were at the stage in front of the grandstand, looking stupid and all. Okay, skip.
I bought lunch at the KFC Booth. Cool, there was this guy here who was smoking, and in between puffs he would ask me about the fair concert and other major events in the fair. I was kind enough then to answer politely. Is tobacco smoke that effective?
I ate at the caf with Ced. There were almost no people there - whoever was behind the fair probably feared the caf so much as a business rival as to enclose the fair grounds and to discourage people going to the caf. Nice strategy. It worked, perhaps.
Ced had to leave; Dahlia still had to take their class pics. So I was left at the caf with Elevazo and Echi. I just sat there, staring blankly. I didn't feel like going back to the fair grounds - the Jailers! the Jailers! Hehe. Shortly after, Jan had to leave, I think to attend to some matters. As always. And I was left with Echi. Okay, I was bored. So I sat in the most comfortable way possible and put my head down to the table. It was 1:20 PM. When I raised my head again, the watch says 1:35 PM. And that was how I slept in the caf for the first time.
Then I gathered enough motivation as to actually walk to the frontlob. It was a really big effort, a great achievement to reach the front lobby. There I saw Benj and Ange building card pyramids and all the people around them waiting for 3:20 PM, a.k.a. the time they would be able to go out and play DOTA.
I assimilated more courage and inspiration, and eventually I was able to force myself to enter the fair grounds. Ooh, scary. The fair grounds. Hehe. I went straight to the Juice Bar, stayed there for about 15 seconds, saw some friends near the wall climbing station and walked straight to them. Some time afterwards I found myself driving a pedicab, allied with Godfrey and scaring the hell out of poor loners who looks like they've just learned how to ride a bike.
When I got tired of doing this senseless excercise, I returned to the fair grounds. There was actually something going on there - the ElimiDate. I thought those kinds of shows are made only during Valentine's season. There I learned that Shower won the Fair Idol contest. He almost won the ElimiDate too. Good thing he didn't. Then there was Jio, the new 'searcher'. Among the 'searchees' was Trish. So I thought aloud, "What if Trish wins?"
Nobody answered. But, as if to answer my question, sure enough, Trish won. End of story.
I walked around the fair grounds some more, it got darker, people prepared the stage. What I've been waiting for. Sonoluminescence. Now I'm really getting lazy and a comprehensive band-by-band review would be so tiring. I'll give short notes.
Pedicab gave a good, dancable (just like their music) performance. Paramita, who isn't so popular, managed to wow the audience with their rocking show. The people were especially pleased with the drummer/vocalist Ria. Up dharma Down also had a good show, though most of the songs they played wasn't popular. Giniling Festival as usual gave a highly entertaining set, and even though some of the songs were unknown, it managed to awe the audience with its fun, obscene lyrics and catchy, borrowed tunes. They also had funny intermissions. Radioactive Sago Project satisfied the crowd with their energetic show and witty songs. Juan Pablo Dream and Brownman Revival gave usual, not-so-interesting but nevertheless good performances. The Nerve, the Appassionato champ, gave a good, professional-sounding performance. Datu's Tribe, also not well-known, gave an amusing, traditional OPM rock performance, singing songs with satiric and sometimes funny lyrics.
Warning! Biased opinion coming.
Urbandub, of course, gave the most energetic and most rocking performance. They played mostly their famous songs: Alert The Armory, Soul Searching, First of Summer, Endless, A Silent Whisper and Gone. They gave a good show, easily got the most response from the crowd, and met their expectations.
Overall, it was a nice experience. Generally, it's a better school fair than last year.
posted by DJ at 17:43 |
15 October 2006
Random Posts
You don't learn much from Environmental Science classes, you know. Not that I'm against it, but everything you hear and see there is something that I'm pretty sure you have heard or seen before. Don't tell me you don't know global warming? Smoke from cigarettes? Layers of the atmosphere? Water cycle?
Which is why to me, it's just a class for making up and polishing brilliant ideas that doesn't have anything to do with anything at all.
All this talk about global warming and a new ice age made me think of such a useless idea. What if you crossbreed a snow leopard (a cool-looking land animal I'm pretty sure you won't see personally your whole life) and the Philippine Eagle (you know, the greatest eagle of them all...)? Never mind if that can't really happen, who cares anyway, but all I want from this crossbreeding is for the Philippine Eagle to acquire the snow leopard's color (which technically makes it just a small genetic modification, not a crossbreeding). Cool, you've got a Philippine Snow Eagle, which eats monkeys and has a coat that makes it damn vulnerable to all those illegal hunters.
Conquering the World, The Pisay Scholar's Way
Another such idea that came to me after discussing global warming, the ice caps, snow and ice is a little bit more useful than having endangered species genetically modified so that they get extinct faster. It's the mighty (not really) Armed Forces of the Philippines setting out to conquer, what else, Antarctica! Mwahahaha!
Look, as a Pisay scholar we're trained to think out of the box. If you ask people how would they conquer the world, of course most would say they'll build up the economy, gain allies, build huge hi-tech armies before conquering each and every country and stuff. But, it's brilliant you see, Antarctica would be the last place they would set out to conquer.
"But, Antarctica is such a cold and most useless place in the world! Look what happened to those penguins in Madagascar when they arrived at Antarctica!"
Or so you think. Yes, it's cold and there are few people there (when the elite forces and advance elements of the mighty Philippine Army arrives there, they all the odds against them: scientists drilling holes, fishing, watching penguins...). But Antarctica would be the fastest way to world domination!
Let's just say the mighty AFP has finally reached Antarctica after their rusty World War 2-era ships clumsily but successfully dragged their way through the wide oceans. They would have fistfights with the nerds drilling up ice there, and hopefully would be finally able to control the area after a few struggles. Then they can say to the whole world,
"We have Antarctica! Yes, we are fools; we conquered such a useless place! Or so you say! All the people in the world would give us all their money, if they don't want us melting all the ice here and triggering catastrophic global disasters! Mwahahaha!"
Therefore I conclude, don't let your imagination work too much after watching The Day After Tomorrow.
Headlines
One morning, I turned on the AM radio.
"North Korea has just detonated a nuke! Russian reporter famous for criticizing Vladimir Putin, dead!"
Isn't it a wonderful world?
War Crimes
The phrase just comes to me as redundant and sarcastic. Isn't war itself a crime? Isn't killing each other, because someone who has authority told you to do it, immoral?
War crime. War is crime itself.
Why We Scholars Are Corny
First of all, before I can make any argument, you have to admit first that you're corny. Yes you, you Pisay scholar.
You know, there's a better reason why we are corny. No, we're not nerds!
We're corny because we are the best of the best students in the country. Everyday we fight our way through the most boring and most challenging of classes, work our way through the longest and the hardest homeworks. Everything is against us. All the pressure that works against students is on us.
Of course, this brings tension and stress. And where there is stress, there is a way to release stress - jokes and fun in general. Because we have more stress than usual, we should have more 'releases' than usual. It just happens that there are not enough good jokes in the world, so we subconsciously rely on the plentiful corny jokes to release extra stress.
May you not hate me for anything I've said. Nyahaha.
--
"The secret of a good sermon is to have a good beginning and a good ending, then having the two as close together as possible."
- George Burns
posted by DJ at 15:15 |
07 October 2006
First Impressions: Twilight
When I came to Tower Records on Monday to buy the album, I searched around including the new releases section for Twilight. It wasn't there. I continued searching until I realized the song playing on the store speakers sounds familiar. Sure enough, I went to the section where they play the cd and there was an employee browsing the album's lyrics. Hehehe. They just haven't put it in the racks yet.
As for the album packaging, I like the pics, I often take pictures of the sky myself, but I missed the handwritten lyrics in the first album. Hahah. Oh well. By the way the lyrics of Waltz and Eyes Wide Shut are incomplete; the left and right stanzas are the same.
Overall the album, I would say, is calmer and quite slower than Hale, with a lot of ballads. I remember reading one interview of Kuya Roll where he said that the new songs are less angry. When I read that the only song I knew from Twilight was Waltz and so he sounded ironic for me, considering Waltz's 'I hate you' lyrics.
However I agree that the guitars are more aggressive this time, although I don't recall a song as 'aggressive' as that of Wishing from the first album. The drums are also noticeably harder and faster this time. Since I've not heard the songs through my large speakers, I've not noticed the bass much yet. Haha. Sheldon's my idol bassist by the way.
The only thing I don't like in the album is the absence of a fast-paced catchy song like Kahit Pa, although I don't really mind.
I love the tracks 'Empty Tears, Empty Heart', of course 'Waltz', 'Shooting Star', '7,8', 'Starting Over' and my current favorite, 'Fire in the Sky'.
It turns out that a few days later, after hearing the whole album at least five times, my opinions would quickly change. I’ll post a more comprehensive review later.
posted by DJ at 22:17 |
30 September 2006
When September Ends
That Week Long Ago
The Humanities Week, I mean. Linggo ng Humanidades. So we won, actually just got 2nd place, in both the Filipino and English contests. If there's one thing that made us win those contests, it would be the Unity of Rosal. Ya right.
The rest of the week? Mostly boring. Everyone was looking forward to the contests, the center of attention of the week.
Tianxiaverse Project
So here we have a major project in Social Studies spearheaded by the all-powerful Ahura Martin (for those who don't know his highness, it's Sir Martin Perez). In the first phase of the massive effort, we're given seven storylines, with four chapters each, based on different regions of Asia. We pick one storyline and a specific chapter, and then we either write our own story for the given title or draw the characters that should appear in that story. Of course I'd write. When Ahura Martin gave out the storylines, only the first two interested me: A Storm In The Desert, the story of Muhammad and the beginnings of the Islamic Empire, and the Land Between Two Rivers, all about Mesopotamia. It turned out that those two topics were the least worked on by the six sections. Oh well. If you've read such novels as The Sum of All Fears and The Last Jihad, you'd know.
Updates On The Local Scene
Sponge Cola has just released their sophomore album, Transit, with its already popular new single Bitiw. Hale is about to follow up (actually, today) with their own sophomore album, Twilight, with the single Waltz. Later on, mid-October, Rivermaya will launch their own new album. Already they have released the video of their new single Isang Bandila.
posted by DJ at 16:09 |
28 August 2006
Twenty-Eighth of August
I began the day happy enough, for some reason you don't need to know. (As if there's anything here that you actually need to know) For the first time in weeks, I was able to arrive in school before flagcem starts. Yay. Haha.
Geom. Hmm. I didn't get sleepy! Haha. Interesting, eh? ComSci was fun. Sir Chris wasn't there for English so we just practiced in the Room 103, a.k.a. the Physics Room. No Bio; Ma'am Dacanay was not present, either. Practice again. Homeroom. A few announcements by Ma'am Guiloreza, then practice again, this time for Filipino! Oh, I got a 1.75 final grade in Physics.
Lunch break. Some things happened. I quickly got into a bad mood. There was not enough reason to, as always, but still I got really serious. I was silent through Chem and Pinoy. No PE for us; it was the girls' turn to swim again (although we haven't really swam, the Rosal and Ilang-Ilang boys).
While we, or rather they, practiced in the shady area near the gazebos, I somehow unleashed some angst by throwing around some things you don't need to know (again). Nothing important.
Pep practice. Nothing special.
It took me several more hours before I got home. It doesn't matter now.
Happy birthday Isay! Haha. Dapat 'di obvious. Peace.
posted by DJ at 23:19 |
27 August 2006
A Song Is Equal To Ten Thousand Words
A reminder: I never post lyrics of songs here unless I can really relate to the song.
I can feel you running in my veins
Driving me insane
Nothing seems the same
I can feel you running in my veins
Driving me insane
Help me ease my pain
Collide by 6 Cycle Mind
Sabihin sakin
Lahat ng lihim mo
Iingatan ko
Ibaling sakin
Ang problema mo
Kakayanin ko
Akap by Imago
I'm addicted to the album Embrace by Urbandub! Reminds me of Hale. The songs really have some deep emotions contained between those lines, notes and fast drum beats. Current LSS:
She makes me feel like I've lost it all
'Cause it feels like the end of it all
We're strangers again
All promise is lost
'Cause it feels like the end of it all
Could this be the end
Of something beautiful?
The End of Something by Urbandub
posted by DJ at 16:14 |
17 August 2006
Post-Quarter Post
If I consider the so-called 'first hell week' as just another [Pisay] school week, I would say that perio week is fun. No classes, lots of time to hang out in the campus and to sleep. More than enough time to review [to at least pass the exams]. Okay, I'll stop there. It's quite predictable, eh?
Soph Night
The presentations were fun, although probably all of them were crammed. Look:
Dahlia had a completely impromptu presentation, and only three of them (Cyd, Ced, Luis) actually knew what they were going to do. Ilang-Ilang started practicing on Thursday, but whatever was practiced then was actually dumped, so in effect they did everything on the day of presentation. Rosal and Sampa were able to start practicing only on Thursday.
Properly doing things in improper times is quite an improper way of preparing - something to be said about cramming.
Afterwards, the event became pretty much like the Christmas Dance back in December 2005. The not-so-controversial 'scandals', the dances, fast and slow. Not much important things to be said, not much crazy dancing.
Rosal At G4
Rosal gimmick! Yay! Unfortunately only 8 people were there: Benj, Paolo, me, Michael, Zaldy, Theia, Haha and Winbel. Okay. Looks like I want this one detailed. No offense to those who wasn't able to come.
Sometime before 11am I arrived at Pisay, picked up Miko and Winbel. There was also Ced and Rachelle (I knew her only by the name until then, but we didn't talk) of Dahlia. So we went to the MRT station at Quezon Avenue, met Haha there (I forgot why, she's from Makati) and rode the train (no need to tell actually). Ced rode up to Shaw only, he was only there for a joyride. We have been laughing about it since we entered the train, by the way.
So we arrived at Ayala Station and parted with Rachelle, then came to the 4th level of G4, were we met Benj and Paolo, who were just hanging out by Starbucks. While waiting for Theia and Zaldy, we played at Timezone. I got first place in racing. Yay. Then they arrived, we bought our movie tickets, came down to the food court to eat, Paolo enjoyed his 200 peso steak, and Haha was 'visited' by her mom and younger sister. We just talked there until about 1.20pm, then we came to the cinema. Paolo liked three of the trailers and announced that he was going to watch them all. I liked none.
The movie was Click. Damn good movie. It was Haha's second time to see the film, and she still cried. Benj claimed that for the first time he cried because of a movie. It’s ironic, thinking that Click is a comedy.
Just out of the cinema, Benj said, "Count off!". We were students, after all.
Then we came to Timezone again. Yes, we were bored. But it was practical too; the movie tickets came with free games at Timezone.
Though I suck at the game I believe they call speed hockey, when we raced again I still got first place, this time even with computer opponents. Haha, who was my closest competitor the first time we raced, placed last at eighth. Okay, enough with that.
We walked all the way to Parksquare just to get ourselves pictured. Then we returned to Glorietta while waiting for the pics to be printed. Theia bought new 'footwear'; if I remember correctly she'd been complaining about her shoe. Paolo had to go home early, though he was the one who had been complaining all along about going home early being a killjoy. And we saw Timezone. *skip*
When we came back to PictureCity, our pics still haven't been printed. While waiting, we sat down on the floor as if the place was ours, and 'tried' to play Truth or Dare. Speaking about Truth or Dare, Theia and I have proven that the game is useless unless you can really force a person to say the truth. Why, whenever we play the game, the consequence is always to say the truth, and the question is always "Who is your special someone?". No one ever answers, at least in Rosal.
We decided to eat at McDo, and just after we have bought our food everyone except Haha, Benj and I had to leave, since they were going with Theia, to Pisay I believe. And there Haha stated that the there were only four things that she does in malls, and if she does all those in one visit she would be contented. Those were: to watch a movie, play at Timezone, get pictured and eat. Okay, we did all those.
The rest of the gimmick is history.
posted by DJ at 00:13 |
30 July 2006
It's Not Hell Week
Before we continue, of course you're not going to do all that requirements - it looks like a miracle, but look! We can take off two requirements from the list! Yay!
Well, seriously, we can do that. Either it's the TSK air sled or the Art group project. Now the Rosal sci-streaming people have an advantage here. See, it's a group project. We did it last Friday. It was more of a bonding session actually; we did in Theia's house. Look, I coined the term rosci there, and Theia was the first one who agreed in the pronunciation ross-ky. Supposedly I should've already written about it. I'll do it later later, perhaps.
Of course, the tech people aren't really going to suffer that much. I've seen a lot of people who look like they're done with their thing.
Now we have 13 requirements left. Wow.
But it isn't as hopeless as it sounds. Looking closely, we have 7 long tests. Tell me, do you really review that hard for the long tests? Sure, most of us do last-minute reviews before long tests. People who are a bit more serious do it the whole morning and lunch break. The question is, how big as a part of your total review time is that last-minute reviewing? Honestly. Gets?
I myself don't count long tests as major requirements. I maybe (sort of) grade-conscious, but I really don't care about long tests much. I know when there will be a long test, but I seldom study in advance. At the most, I'll read through my notes or a few pages of the book once.
We're left with six requirements left to tackle with: four creative works (three on paper and a speech), a group presentation and a practical test/s.
First off, don't tell me you enjoy playing badminton and table tennis? Sure it's a practical test, but don't you enjoy it even a little bit? And you can only prepare by, well, playing the game.
There's a creative output in Health, all about yourself. Paraphrase it: working on your Friendster profile the fun (supposedly) way. I enjoyed it (though I've not seen my Friendster profile for years. Yes, I've got one! But don't ask for the email add I used for it. It's useless.). Sure, you enjoy it too.
Finally we're left with four (not-so-fun) requirements. The ValEd 'creative output' discussing a topic under Nature of Man, an English 'entertaining prepared speech', a SocSci (or SocStud) group presentation on eastern religions, and the Geom construction work, the op art and the mandala/Islamic art/daisy design/tessellation.
Look at the last two. For geom, there's op art, Islamic art, and for Socsci there's a group presentation. Art means your supposed to enjoy it. It's also a creative output, in a sense. Group presentation means you're going to do less. Now it sounds less heavy, eh?
For Valed, we have a creative output discussing some topic under Nature of Man. Yes it's a discussion, but it's also a creative output. And for English, it should be entertaining. Sure, you're going to write down a lot and memorize a lot. You get damn nervous before delivering it. But if you're a normal person, and if you wrote the speech well, I'm sure, you're going to be entertained too.
--
There are two more things.
Besides the TSK airsled (which means rosci people are not concerned), there's nothing due on Tuesday. Quite ironic, since Tuesday, along with Thursday, is Rosal's most tightly-packed day, containing the two maths and no breaks other than the lunch break.
And there's a long test in Filipino and a project for envisci (which means only sci people are concerned) next week, or the two days before perio. Now, that doesn't matter, right?
--
That was a long one. Did I convince you that the Hell Week isn't really that heavy? Well, of course, in the end, it's my perspective.
The bottom line is, don't panic. It's not the end of the world. Or so I think.
posted by DJ at 22:01 |
The Rosci
If Jasmin have their Pisay/Pisaytech/Pitech debate, Rosal has the Rosci-Rotech/Rostech division. It's simple enough: we're not talking about unfair school names, we're just saying that one streaming is better than the other. Which of the two? Well, that's the problem.
It's ironic, considering how we call ourselves United Rosal.
posted by DJ at 21:59 |
21 July 2006
Musikang Sandalan
Crushed, frustrated, disappointed. Angered. It may sound gay for you, but to tell the truth, I feel like crying now. Perhaps you never expected to see this here.
I haven't felt it for a long time. I had wished I will never feel it again. There's not really enough reason to be like this, but I'm sort of pessimistic in this kind of things. You know it, though you probably haven't felt it. The real, and tragic, thing.
So you're reading this. It's all in this place. The clues, the truth. Perhaps this particular entry will give it away. The long-kept secret. Ah, it's obvious now. Think. You've felt part of it. Should I rather be optimistic? It depends on you.
Pupil, Beautiful Machines. A good album. Good enough for company. There's something you should know. One thing that makes the album Panorama by 6 Cycle mind precious to me is how the band believes that some rely on their music for comfort. Bilang sandalan. It may sound cheesy, or corny, or just plain stupid. But I do it. Music is my life, for real. They become something else when I'm like this. Like then. Like people who understand you, know your deepest secrets, and reflect it.
Nasaan Ka? A song. Just a song. Not for me. Namimilipit sa galit, umiikot ang aking paningin sa mga tanong na 'di kayang sagutin. It's priceless. The only object that I really trust. Wala ka na.
Weird. I don't care right now.
Sorry for all this mess. I don't know how much I've spilled with these words. Consequences, they're not important for now. I need to express myself. Something. Ah, I feel better. A bit.
Don’t leave me, my friend. Don’t be like her. It would be the worst thing you could do. I had enough.
posted by DJ at 00:28 |
20 July 2006
Beautiful Machines - Pupil
The album contains 14 good tracks; I have to admit, this is the most addicting album I've heard since Sandwich's Five On The Floor. The carrier single, also the band's debut single, Nasaan Ka? is an interesting song that reminds us of Eraserhead's trademark storytelling style yet has its own distuingishing characteristics. Their current, and second (I think) single, Dianetic has a very catchy tune that leaves you addicted right from the first time you hear it (trivia: the song's title was taken from Ely's girlfriend's name, Diane). The song combines gentle vocals with heavy metal instrumentals, a very interesting contrast.
The first track, Different Worlds, with an intro that reminds me of those wierd foreign songs I watch in late night music video shows, again features Ely's catchy lines. Other good songs sung or written by Ely are Gamu-Gamo, Kalawakan and Dulo Ng Dila. Mary is a song that reminds you of Nazareth and other 80's slow rock bands. Beautiful Machines, sung by Diane Ventura, Ely's girlfriend and Pupil's manager, has a vocal style that will haunt you. Lost Guide, the album's last track, is quite interesting in how it is different from all the other songs - slow with soft instrumentals in the start, quite similar to Hale's Here Tonight.
The other tracks of the album are Blow Your House Down, She Talks To Trees, False Alarm, Hypersober and All This Time.
P.S. This post is quite unfair for all those other bands whose albums I have. I'll try and make reviews for those.
posted by DJ at 20:20 |
18 July 2006
Academic Archives
Speaking about my archives, I've got all my project files since 1st year dumped into a folder with a name that you don't need to know (imagination! make it work!). Reading those files would give you a good knowledge about the Earth's structure, 2005 Philippine politics, the old operating systems and exactly how useful Wikipedia is to Pisay students. But in the same folder, you have Word documents containing lyrics and guitar tabs of some recent songs. Not that it matters.
Oh, I'm bored. Or just trying to get homeworks out of my mind. To tell you, I did this in the middle of organizing my files - before cramming one huge project.
posted by DJ at 23:56 |
12 July 2006
Twelfth of July
So there came a storm (I don't even know the name) that stopped our school day at lunch. Wow. How fun.
Tumambay sa caf. Tapos pumunta sa "optional/advanced" SocSci 2 class by Sir Martin. Astig. Tapos tambay sa caf ulit. Ikot sa field. Tambay sa caf one last time. Dumaan ng SM. Tower Records. Bumili ng Beautiful Machines by Pupil. Umuwi. Nagtype ng post sa blog. The end.
Wala naman talaga akong sasabihin eh. Gusto ko lang magpost.
Alam mo ba nalilito
Gulong-gulo
'Di nagbibiro
Saan pa man naroroon
Pangalan mo ang binubulong
Ikaw pa rin ang hinahanap ko
Dianetic by Pupil
posted by DJ at 21:02 |
10 July 2006
Extraterrestrial Cinderella
~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1416.html). Go read - it's not quite as childish as you might expect.
So it happens that this poem was introduced to me by Sir Chris in my (or rather, our) English 2 class. He forced (just to make things sound more morbid) us to make an alternative ending to the poem with three scenarios: the Prince married the Ugly Stepsisters, the Prince didn't kill the Ugly Stepsisters, or Cinderella married the Prince. I picked the last option.
...:.|
In the kitchen, peeling spuds,
Cinderella heard the thuds
Of bouncing heads upon the floor,
And poked her own head round the door.
'What's all the racket? 'Cindy cried.
'Mind your own bizz,' the Prince replied.
Poor Cindy's heart was torn to shreds.
My Prince! she thought. He chops off heads!
How could I marry anyone
Who does that sort of thing for fun?
The Prince turned around
And was stunned at what he found
Peeking from the door was a lady
He could not forget her dazzling beauty
The Prince cried,
'My lady! How could it be!
Forget this, and let us marry!'
Poor Cinderella replied,
'No way, over my dead body!
I won't marry such a royalty!'
It happened that the Prince had his army
Camped around the house, all ready
At one command the soldiers attacked
And the house was burned down to a smoldering rack
Afterwards Cinderella had nothing else to do
With all her possessions destroyed without much ado
Without a choice left she got married
To a Prince whose violence she always tried to relieve
When a decade has passed
Since Cinderella's house was turned to dust
The Prince became a King
And of good governance the nation had nothing
Then aliens arrived in ships that looked fair
Mischievous intergalactic playboys they were
Making the medieval country their huge playground
Houses, castles and forts they all burned to the ground
By midnight in the kingdom they had destroyed all life
Except that of the King and his lovely, gentle wife
They asked whose life they were to spare
'Do not kill my wife, ever fair!'
Told the King without much thinking
And so Queen Cinderella continued to live
To tell the rest of the world the story of her violent King
...:.|
If you're interested, see Benj's work at his blog (http://roman-bicycle.blogspot.com). His work features light sabers and grenades.
posted by DJ at 23:46 |
06 July 2006
Refresh
So finally I got back proper connection to the net, after nearly four, long, boring months. I believe I've got nothing to explain. There's a few things to tell about my lonely summer break anyway.
Layout
I'm not in the mood to try to persuade you that I made this new layout. Sure, it's not as good as those you see in blogskins.com, but it serves my purpose. I made it, that satisfies me. No evil connotations.
But surely I'll tell the uninteresting story of why this layout is named V. It's the first time I worked with XML, and I had to download skins from websites that I can reverse engineer to discover the not-so-secret facts about XML. One skin was particularly helpful, it taught me everything I needed to know, and it was titled V for Vendetta. Obviously, it was a blogskin based on a wallpaper of the movie V for Vendetta. This skin's coding, by the way, was based on that one.
How nerdy.
Vendetta of the Carribean Returns
V for Vendetta, by the way, remains my favorite movie of the year. It was more than what I expected from a Wachowski Brothers and Joel Silver collaboration. However, I watched Superman Returns last Friday, and I think I like it just as much as Vendetta, if only because Superman was likened to Christ in this particular film.
And I still have to watch Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest next week. The clever drunken pirate returns!
The Sophomore
Now this is something I really have to tell a lot about: back to school. I was quite optimistic, and I wasn't disappointed about my class. For the first time in my schooling life, I didn't feel out of place of my class. I felt that all my classmates were friendly. That I belonged.
Sure, some of them were the higher class people that Gian had described in his blog with a line from a book, which goes something like "the rich, the important, those who simply radiated charm". People I never had the chance to know myself, simply because they just feel so flawless to me. Of course that opinion sounds so stupid now, and I've changed my views. At least now I know more.
There are a few wierd things that happened to me these first days, however. For example, recently, I sort of "subconsciously" told a new friend an important secret I kept for more than half a year. The sort of secret that I know you can all relate to. I still can't understand how it happened.
Anyway, afterwards (though the two events don't have any connection), I joined the ADM.
The Anti-DotA Movement
NO TO DOTA!!!
Something that you'll never expect a former DotA addict like me to say. But I did. I'll write about that some other day. I'm more interested in...
The Growing Collection
Not that I'm trying to beat Dm Cordova's collection, but recently I found myself buying OPM band albums almost weekly. I can't help it - I've always been itching to buy Permission to Shine after I was addicted to 6 Cycle Mind's Panorama; I bought Thanks to the Moon's Graviational Pull three weeks after I began listening to Sandwich's Five on the Floor. Good thing I've not discovered yet what Imago's other albums are, after buying Take 2!.
Now it's time for me to hear Pupil.
Conclusion (remember to answer the objectives!)
Fooled you. This is hardly connected to anything above. I just want to say that I'm sort of happy these days, even if only because of ______.
Nilumot na ang lupa/Wala pa ring tiyak
Napagod na ang luha/'Di na makaiyak
Sana ay matauhan/Pusong nakabitin
Kalimutan mo na siya't/Ako ang pansinin
Walang Kadala-dala by Sandwich from Five on the Floor
posted by DJ at 18:06 |
18 March 2006
Alone
...:.|
I once read in Blackice's blog that ignorance, not hatred, is the opposite of love. I didn't believe and thought about it at first, but weeks after I kept hearing the statement in my mind, as if spoken by some ghost of the past.
Ignorance, not hatred, is the opposite of love.
There she was, near me. For minutes, I've been silently watching her speak and listen to some friends. Thinking about what sentence would strike up the longest conversation. I spoke. She replied, and it was over. Then he arrived. My friend whom I secretly hate. He already has a girlfriend, but it's quite obvious that he likes this girl too. I can't understand why she ignores me. I can't understand why everytime he talks to her, they would speak for a long time.
And ignorance, not hatred, is the opposite of love.
I now think it's foolish to say "at least she does not hate me" when that person you love ignores you. When the one you love most hates you, yes, it's sad and painful. It's discouraging. But that's exactly what makes it better than ignorance - hatred discourages love. It's a different story when someone you love ignores you. You simply does not have the chance to prove anything, to try anything. You're suffering, and the love remains.
Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but she's ignoring me. It makes it so sad to think that she was the closest female friend I ever had. She has helped me more than anyone else in different ways. She was there when I was sad. That makes it worse. Now no one can help me. I'm sad, and I can't approach anyone. I have friends, but they don't really care about me. I'm alone. I wish I'm just being paranoid.
As the last school days pass by, I've come to realize that it's her who makes me feel so lonely when I think about the end of the school year. A few more days until vacation. A few more days until my loneliness deepens.
...:.|
Kanina pa kitang inaalok
Ng kwentuhang masaya
Parang sayo'y balewala
Sandalan by 6 Cycle Mind
At ngayon, wala ka na
Hindi alam kung saan magsisimula
I by 6 Cycle Mind
posted by DJ at 23:46 |
07 March 2006
Neldëa
...:.|
I think you all know the problems that comes with, uhm, being "attracted" to a close friend (of the opposite gender, of course). The main problem is choice. Yes, choice (do I sound like a character from The Matrix?) It's simple. Love or friendship. To risk or to sacrifice. Reveal your feelings and risk turning your friendship into hate, or stay quiet and, perhaps, secretly bear the pain of seeing her happy with some other guy.
...:.|
I hate the end of this school year. Vacation is boring. Yes, there are no homeworks, projects and deadlines to meet, but there's also no more fun. Two months without seeing your friends (and special someone). When I was younger I didn't care, but now.. now I'm confused.
There's only one thing that makes me happy about this vacation. There's no fun anymore, but at least there's no more pain also.
...:.|
Maybe you see me I'm always happy
But in my back I'm a lonely clown
Clown by 6 Cycle Mind
posted by DJ at 20:49 |
