10.20.2008

9.30.2008

StreetLUXE

This Masskara season, the hippest coolest and most exclusive party in the city is StreetLuxe, featuring DJ Erwin Edralin.

Be at Breizh on the 15th of October and experience the biggest red-carpet event.

Dress code: Street sexy

Hosted by It Magazine and Rhipstop Soul Clothing

itpinoymag.multiply.com


5.02.2008

All over places, but not in bits and pieces

What is it about me and moving around? For someone who likes to isolate himself inside his room (for film marathons and whatever), I somehow always find myself moving from one place to another.

Ronnel said maybe I am just that adventurous, but I beg to differ. Maybe it’s all but circumstance why I’ve changed addresses more than 6 times in five months. Heck! The address I have on my resume says that I live at the Lacons’ Yulo Apartments in Makati.

A couple of months back, I was under the tree at Eroreco Subdivision in Bacolod before I moved in at Marinel’s along Lizares. Two weeks later I found myself near Taft Avenue in Manila, along Leon Guinto at Vito Cruz. Then there’s Mark’s pad at Vito Cruz Extension, my cousin’s apartment at South Avenue, Jed’s condo near Ayala Avenue—which for a time I used to crash at prior to my transfer from Vito to Boni (yep, that’s in Mandaluyong). I spent two months in Boni with Noel and the guys.

Now, after five months in Manila, I am where I never expected to be at—Cavite!!! It’s like the wtf kind of sit Alanis would blab about in Ironic. It’s a long story, really. And I have to admit, part of it would have to be blamed on my hunger for my love for travel. I read it one in Readers Digest that going to new and very unfamiliar places can increase your IQ. It’s also supposed to de-stress you, but with the travel I have to take everyday??? Oh puh-leeeaassseee.

Currently, I’m planning to move to Cebu with Hannah and Armi. Maybe in a month? Dang! Rigil claims that I am so much a lakwatsero, having gone to places even certified Manileños haven’t even gone to. But really, do I regret anything? Well, I can probably say no. ‘Coz maybe this is what I’m supposed to do. Move around and take in every experience I indulge myself in.

Living along Bacoor-Imus border has its disadvantages though. No more surprise trips to Tagaytay to watch sunrise with Mark and Betchay. No more unexpected trips to Makati, overnight drinking sessions at Mark’s place or at Chilipeppers along Valero. No more day trips with Kim to godknowswhere. Goodbye Ascend, Jaipur. Sayonara Fort!

But then again, when you close Door #1, there’s always Door #2. Cavite has also delighted me, in a way. I’m closer to Alabang. I can fairly say that it’s quite tawhay there. Mikel is there. So is Pearly who apparently works in Dasmariñas. I get to visit a lot of malls there (I’m not really a mallrat but I appreciate the sight—unfortunately Cavite hasn’t yet presented me with something that’d make me drop my jaw… or I haven’t gotten around that much yet). Because it’s along the way home, I get to go to Malate or MOA quite easily without having second thoughts.

Experience tells me that this is gonna keep on going until I’ve found the place which I can really call home. Hell and to think this all began when I lost my house last November. It’s funny how things have transpired for me in the last 5 months. I wish—oh and I’m wishing for it badly—that I’d stay happy for the rest of my life—surrounded by all things that define a good life—friends, art, travel, places, music, food, and all things unexpected!

4.18.2008

Kastanyas Santissima in Her Own Musicale


There’s something about the songs I’ve chosen for Kimee that makes me think twice about my very impression of her. You see, for me, Kimee has two sides—she’s no Gemini but her presence, her aura appears to have these magical undertones which I can never quite place. (It’s like it’s almost at the tip of my tongue yet I can’t find anything more absolute an adjective.)

The songs are all done by women, spanning from the French legend Edith Piaf to the less popular The Long Blondes. It’s an interesting mix for me because truthfully I found it hard to think of which songs fit her persona so they seem to be incoherent in terms of genre.

But that’s just it! Kimee has her own sensual incoherence which you will never be able to point out in one conversation with her, regardless if it’s utterly philosophical or not. She isn’t earthbound. She’s “weird” in an unknown degree. (Peace Kim!)

Naturally I’d go for Broadway songs such as As If We Never Said Goodbye among others. But it’s just going to be boring. She (we) like it too much it’s the most obvious selection for her. I needed to make something which is new yet still defines her character. This girl has her own language, bordering on queer. And like Tori Amos, she may not “be like the girls that you’ve known, but I believe she is worth coming home to.” Meaning? She’s not ordinary, but supernatural, paranormal, extraterrestrial!

In La Vie en Rose, she’s that crisp, stuttering, grainy, melodious background song playing on the AM frequency on a humid Thursday afternoon during the ‘50s, listened to by grandmothers while wondering why breasts sag a centimeter more each day. In Nature Boy, though she may creep into you like a subtle voice in the wind, a mute girl in a crowd of pleasers, she can startle you with sudden bursts of depth traced in colorful and appetizing words as if indeed saying that “the greatest thing you’ll ever learn is to love and be loved in return.”

Yet the love in her is not one that’s Shakespearean. Hers may be romantic but it isn’t one that needs an intimate relationship to validate itself. Instead, her romance with the world is characterized by an image that walks by night, wearing a ballet outfit (complete with the shoes, tutu, and all), carrying an awesome 80’s jukebox on the shoulder, playing Karen’s “Close to You” on an empty street, dancing, tip-toeing—at first people don’t notice her, but when she reaches the chorus, everybody joins her in such prolific choreography like that one in Leslie’s video of “1 2 3 4.” Everybody joins her in song, but when it ends—everything turns back to normal. But you know deep down inside of you (uck such a clichéd phrase), you actually experienced something more than what’s there. She’s totally an amalgam of experience!

There’s a lot of character swaying in Kimee, from one character shift to the other. She’s completely unaware of her own eccentricity, which makes “Smile” such a great tribute to her oh-look-I’m-singing/talking-to-myself-again moments, and “I’ll Kill Her” to her sorry-if-I-sometimes-accidentally-blurt-out-my-thoughts-in-various-European-accents instances.

For the shape I like to define of her, it’s the circle. I can say much of that in the song “Windmills of the Mind,” originally by Michel LeGrand. The music is very hypnotic, even the lyrics move about in circles. That’s Kimee. Purely an obsession beyond reason.

4.07.2008

I am 7:46pm

If there's something interesting about Dave's blog is that it has loads of links to quizzes LOL! Yep, I took one. The results weren't a bit surprising--it's actually very accurate. And it's the kind of lifestyle I've adjusted myself to lately.



Furthermore, the results of my test:

You are 7:46 p.m. You are the time of day when everyone is making plans for the night, but there's still an element of mystery about what exactly will happen. You are the moment when your hair looks just right and you're calling or texting friends to make last-minute arrangements about where and when you'll get together. Your time of day is full of possibilities. You're still not sure who might show up, and the night is full of electricity and hope. You are ready for anything, and excited about making the most of whatever (or whoever) crosses your path.

When You Were Young

The Killers. Always thought they were Brit. But nevertheless, regardless if they are or not, I still love them. Mr. Brightside first got into me, surely their first hit record. Two years ago, never stepped out of the bar without hearing it first. If the DJ did not have any plans on playing it, sometimes I'd really go up the bar and make a request. Personal reasons? None.

But I've never been so hyped by any of their songs as what When You Were Young does. Mr. Brightside is kinda passe. When You Were too, but there's something about the song that still makes my bones shake.

They say the devil's water, it ain't so sweet
You don't have to drink right now
But you can dip your feet
Every once in a little while

You sit there in your heartache
Waiting on some beautiful boy to
To save you from your old ways
You play forgiveness
Watch it now here he comes

He doesn't look a thing like Jesus
But he talks like a gentleman
Like you imagined when you were young
(He talks like a gentlemen, like you imagined when)
When you were young


I don't know why I'm kinda attached to the song. It's not even a love song (as if I can relate to such LOL). I tried thinking about why though; and it's sort of interesting to realize that it's about absolution from one's mistakes--not sins. Having been down in a slump countless of times, it does really feel good for somebody to come by and help you out ala the Good Samaritan. Somehow, when we were young indeed, we each had our own conception of Saving Grace. I think mine has come, but I am not entirely sure which one of them is.