Elliott Yamin: The Return to AI

What did I say last year, something like "Mark my words, Elliott will be big". A look at my archives for April 2006 shows that I had blogged about Elliott Yamin 3 times in a row. So no, I didn't like the guy. I loved him!

To make a long story shot, Elliott finished at #3, and I along with a lot of Yaminions from all over grieved for some time (yeah we were bat-shit crazy, as noted by fellow Yaminion Progressive), and then agonized about Elliott not getting a record deal etcetera etcetera.

A year later and voila! Elliott got the best deal possible out of all the AI contestants from his season - he went independent and struck a unique partnership deal with publisher Sony/ATV, which allows him to share copyright ownership of his material. Under this deal, they share 50-50 profit - not bad for an industry that is notorious for giving artists only 6-10%. Elliott's album was released in March 20 under a virtual label, Hickory Records. The Croshal Group was in charge of advertising and promotions.

Elliott Yamin (the album title) debuted in Billboard at #3. It has made, to date, the highest new artist debut on an independent label in Soundscan history. I could bombard you with a lot more figures and statistics, but I won't. Just trust me when I say that he's selling a whole lot more than anyone would have thought during his AI days.

Elliott performed his first official single, Wait For You on American Idol last night. And he made us all proud. See, what did I tell you?

My kinda Hiro

Just saw Episode # 20 ("Five Years Gone") and it frigging rocks! Not enough time to write these days so I'll just post these. Cool Heroes links:

Heroes 360 Clues (lots more great links at right sidebar)
Heroes Gallery (Photos, Screencaps, Scans, etc.)
The 5 EW cover variants
EW Online feature: Yesterday's Heroes
EW Online articles (spoilerish! Note to self: Read these later.)

The Dog Whisperer

My friend Isa lent me The Dog Whisperer by Owens and Eckroate as I had been attempting to train Papa Suresh's pups. A couple of weeks ago I began teaching them to sit. Hiro has turned out to be the smartest and quickest of the lot. Momo, bless his tummy, is kinda clueless on the matter. What I did was pat the floor with my hand while I said "Sit [pup's name], sit!", and held a treat in my hand. Hiro got it right away. In fact, he understood it so well that he would just sit there and would not stand anymore, the smart aleck. Micah took quite a while but she got it during our second session that day. Momo? Entirely clueless. He'd look at me expectantly, and when I wouldn't give him a treat, he'd turn away. A few times he went way back behind the pups, tired, and began to sit. I'd go, "Aha! That will do, puede na `yan!" and proceed to give him his reward. (That's successive approximations for `ya!) It happened a few times - Momo got treats by accident, unintentionally. *sigh*

`Course all that was before I had read The Dog Whisperer chapter on sitting, which states that one should hold the treat over the dog's nose so that he tilts his head and looks up. This will make his back end go down, so presto, he's sitting! (It also said the word "Sit" should be introduced after the dog already knows how to do so.) I tried this trick the following week (I get to see the pups only on weekends), and like before, Hiro totally got it. Micah would sometimes stand on her hind legs (she loves doing that, such a show-off) but she knew that didn't earn her a crunchie. Momo? *sigh* Still getting her crunchies by chance. And I thought it would be easy to get him to rest on his behind, it being heavy and all. *sigh*

A couple of pics to remember our training session by (click to enlarge if you can't read the text):

Micah was unavailable for a photograph. She was probably somewhere burying her secret stash - which consists of stuff that aren't always edible, silly girl.

Momo-nitor

Lately I have been babytalking my computer monitor. Hee.

Never been much of a dog person but...

...just look at the cute little buggers. The light-colored one is Hiro, and the darker one is Mohinder. (Sound familiar? Hee!)

Faux Lomo-ed

Lomography was originally an Austrian commercial trademark for photography-related products and services. Nowadays, the term stands for an approach, philosophy or attitude. The emphasis is on casual, snapshot photography, as in shooting from the hip. Lomo images are colorful and quirky. Lomo enthusiasts aspire for happy accidents such as over-saturation, light leaks, vignetting, over- and underexposure, multiple exposures and so on. Lomo cameras are crappy cameras, but the results are cool.

Some months ago I actually thought about buying a lomo camera. My endearingly snooty French art connoisseur friend (love `ya, dearie) huffed and puffed at the thought, indignant that I would consider getting one instead of a slick Canon SLR. (There are cheap lomos out there, see. You can get one from Amazon for as little as $18.) I suppose it's a matter of taste. To cut the story short, I didn't get a lomo. (Which was just as well, since I found myself already overwhelmed with 3 cameras - an SLR, a compact, and a phone camera - during my recent trip.) Happily, I found some how-to tips on creating faux lomo images at Flicker. This is my first try (top image = original image, bottom one = faux lomo-ed):

Eh. I had thought the original image was colorful enough. But now it looks washed-out in comparison to the lomofied version. Here is another one I did. Pretty cool, I think. But that's me. Feel free to be horrified.

Shades of Enlightenment

Embraced by a Bodhi Tree

If you believe you are enlightened, you are actually a little bit crazy.
-- Taisen Deshimaru

Buddha in a Bodhi Tree # 1
Wat Mahathat, Ayutthaya 2/10/07

One of the most photographed images in all of Ayutthaya, Thailand's old capital, is this Buddha head that seems to have grown among the roots of a bodhi tree within the compound of Wat Mahathat built in 1374.

While many Buddha heads were forcibly taken when the Burmese ransacked the city in 1767, this particular head must have remained hidden under brush and leaves for many years, until the Bodhi tree sprang to life and embraced it. The Bodhi is especially significant because it is the tree under which the Gautama Buddha gained enlightenment.

My Angkor Movie

Passage to Angkor
Uploaded by imogen_ph

Presenting my Angkor movie. The file runs for 4 minutes 12 seconds. Click on "Play" to start the movie. Turn up the volume. If the video stops and starts, just let it load until the end, and then replay. It should go smoothly then. Known to work in IE (on PC) and Firefox (on Mac). Freezes up on Netscape (PC) in my case, but that may be due to a glitch in my Shockwave plug-in. I don't know about other browsers.

The song is Somewhere Only We Know by Keane.

Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?

Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on.
So tell me when you're gonna let me in,
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin.
And if you have a minute why don't we go,
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything.
So why don't we go, somewhere only we know,
Somewhere only we know.

Images from Angkor # 3

Sunrise over Angkor Wat, 2/13/2007

The sun rises over Angkor Wat, the temple considered to be one of the most perfect architectural structures in the world. Built sometime in the 12th century under the rule of Suryavarman II, it took 37 years to accomplish. How many suns have risen and shone over Angkor Wat? This thought alone is staggering.

Images from Angkor # 2

South Gate, Angkor Thom. 2/11/2007

Angkor Thom or "Great City", measuring about 900 hectares, is said to be one of the largest cities in its heyday (from the 12th to the 17th century). It was built by Jayavarman VII, the most prolific Khmer god-king known for building some of the most magnificent temples in all of Angkor. One reaches the South gate through a causeway flanked by 54 gods on the left, and 54 asuras (demons) on the right, each row tugging on an end of a great naga (a multi-headed snake), depicting a scene from the great Hindu creation myth of the Churning of the Sea of Milk. On top of the 75-foot gate is a tower with four faces representing each of the cardinal directions.

Images from Angkor # 1

The walls of Nirvana are lined with apsaras.
2/11/2007, Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

On the list of the things that I will miss

Before I get into that, here's an interesting tidbit. Yesterday, Elliott fans found out that Amazon has Elliott's debut album available for pre-order. By the end of the day, Elliott sat at the top of the Movers & Shakers (which lists the top gainers within 24 hours), with a stratospheric 10,000% increase in pre-orders. (I kid you not.) This happened with no clip of any kind, no track list or any other information, not even a picture, nothing but his name. Unreal, huh? This morning, the cd cover was revealed. Behold the Elliott Yamin debut album cover. I much prefer if they had used this, though. Or even this.

Anyway. I'm finally leaving tomorrow for Bangkok. (Angkor here we come!) A couple of music events I will miss, which I hope some of you can catch for moi:

• AOL's Exclusive First Listen - a full preview of Elliott's new single Movin' On. I'm not sure whether people outside the US will be able to access it. Wouldn't hurt to try though. In any case, if AOL doesn't work, wait a bit and I'm sure the song will turn up at youtube or at numerous blogs. Go check Elliott's AOL page here.

• The digital release of Movin' On on February 13. Ah, will somebody please text me and tell me about it? *batts eyelashes*

• American Idol will offer up its "Best of the Rest" auditions tomorrow night. Keep your eyes (and ears) peeled for a Korean soul singer named Paul Kim. That's right, an Asian soul singer! Word has been good on this guy's chances. Check out his myspace here (clickie!), he has 4 songs posted there. I love his voice, very soulful, quite John Legend-y, only silkier.

• I've never paid much attention to the Grammy awards, but this time I would like to watch it. Too bad I will still be out by the time the show airs (Feb. 11 in the US). Sting will reunite with The Police for the opening number, plus John Legend, John Mayer, and Corinne Bailey Rae (who I have heard much about) will be performing together. I guess I'll catch these on youtube too.

I think that's about all. If I'm able, I will try to post from Siem Reap. Until then, ciao for the while. Will be back after a week.

Movin' On indeed!

Sony/ATV has finally put up a sample of Elliott's first single, Movin' On, which will be available digitally starting February 13.

(Frack, I'll be in Angkor then. L, my friend, gift me with this one through iTunes ha? *smacks lips*)

Listen to the sample clip on youtube or at Rickey's.


`Cause you know as time moves on
I won't always be around
And I'll be gone and I won't always be down
`Cause I'm leaving it up to you
And you know this much is true
As time moves on it's gonna be gone
And I'm movin on.

I know it sounds crazy but I just can't do this
It feels like we're wasting time so I'll get to it...

[Thanks to momzcool of royalmisfits.com (formerly yaminions.com) for transcribing the lyrics.]

Addendum: The clip was originally up at the Sony/ATV website, but after several hours it was pulled. (Perhaps it was put out there for professionals in the industry, they did not expect E fans to find it so quickly.) Naturally some fans were already able to record it, so the clip is now in even more accessible sites (as I posted above). February 13 can't come soon enough.

Contemplating Rumi & Roses

"In the driest whitest stretch of pain's infinite desert, I lost my sanity and found this rose." -- Rumi

My sincerest thanks to my co-workers, oy!

[A few more rose pics in my Flickr gallery. All taken with the SE K800i.]

Miróesque Musings

L'Oiseau Mongol, Joan Miró, 1969

Happy Birthday to me.


I would like to be a dot in a painting by Miró
by Moniza Alvi


I would like to be a dot in a painting by Miró.

Barely distinguishable from other dots,
it’s true, but quite uniquely placed.
And from my dark centre

I’d survey the beauty of the linescape
and wonder -- would it be worthwhile
to roll myself towards the lemon stripe,

Centrally poised, and push my curves
against its edge, to give myself
a little attention?

But it’s fine where I am.
I’ll never make out what’s going on
around me, and that’s the joy of it.

The fact that I’m not a perfect circle
makes me more interesting in this world.
People will stare forever --

Even the most unemotional get excited.
So here I am, on the edge of animation,
a dream, a dance,a fantastic construction,

A child’s adventure.
And nothing in this tawny sky
can get too close, or move too far away.


[View a Flash version of the poem here.]

Flash poem, anyone?

You know how things turn up when you're not looking for them anymore? Well this file is something I had been trying to find for ages. Finally found it when I cleaned up during the holidays. (Good thing the diskette is still working.) A few years ago I attended a Macromedia Flash workshop. This animated poem was one of my projects. I must say, the poem itself isn't one of my better pieces, but it was rather well-suited for translation into Flash. The thing wouldn't convert into a Quicktime movie for some reason, so I just made it into an animated gif.

(Click on image to view a slightly larger version. Point the cursor on the image; if you see a "+", click again to further enlarge. The poem loops continuously. Just refresh the page if you want to see it from the very start.)

Sizing up the SE K800i

Time to size it up. Do I love the K800i or do I LOVE the K800i? There's the sleek sonavagun right there. Maybe not as attractive as the newer Nokia models (and then again it depends on one's tastes; I do like how it looks), but it sure packs a wallop in terms of features. And must I say it, the Cyber-shot label alone is enough to make me want it (ssh I've secretly desired Cyber-shots time after time). My phone no longer looks like this, though. Just today I chucked out the crystal case in favor of a screenguard and a leather case (a pink one, hee!). See, after a week of use I felt like becoming a potential candidate for tendonitis, the case made the whole thing bulky, I have small hands! Pressing the tinier buttons (like at the top and sides) was a bitch. So what the heck, goodbye crystal case. At least you got photographed.

I should also say though, it's true what CNET says about the joystick and navigation. The joystick, cool as it is, can be a bit sluggish sometimes. Not always. I don't mind it too much. As for the keypads, squished together like that, I can no longer text as fast as I used to. I actually have to pay attention to what my thumb is pressing, how about that? Maybe it'll get better with time. If not, well, maybe I'll send less text messages and looking at the bill every month will become less painful.

One thing I'm enjoying with the K800i is how it allows for so much customization. (Pardon the ingenue, my former phones were all Jurassic compared to this. I was quite content with low-end models until I laid eyes on this one.) The sunflower wallpaper I'm using now (the one in the pic above) is one of mine (not taken with this phone, though). Uploading your own stuff is easy (once you figure it out, that is. The dang software was rather problematic, I have not been able to actually use the programs. So far I've only managed to get the computer to recognize the phone as an external drive, and I do my business through there. I am told that perhaps I have to get updated firmware.) In any case, just having the ability to choose wallpapers, themes, and so on and so forth allows for so many possibilities. I can set up my own shortcuts also, what a delight! I never was good at memorizing shortcuts devised by other people. Heh. And lookee, I can set up the phone to sound an alarm say, at 6am, and at the same time have an image of Aragorn throwing a torch at me and whispering elvish into my ear (or shouting "Fire!" or "Charge!", remember from the Battle at Helm's Deep in Two Towers? Ehrm, sorry for the random geek reference.) I mean, truly, can you see it, the myriad ways we can simultaneously automate and complicate our daily lives, huh?

Plus there are many other stuff I won't get into anymore: the multimedia messaging (I can send mini slide shows! With text and music and recorded audio and so on. Oh fun! Problem is, not all phones can receive the mms the way I set it up.), the internet access, the games, the radio, music player, the organizer, the video call! Ah sweet 3G technology, may I keep away from thee as much as possible, for the pocket's sake. Really, this thing has more bells and whistles than one has time to tinker with.

As for the camera. The slide cover at the back is smartly designed. The position of the shutter button is good, the lcd large and bright enough, and the features? Very nice. First off, 3.2 megapixels baby! Also, there are enough presets, cool shoot modes (Best Pic which allows you to pick the best out of 9 shots made with just one press of the shutter; Panorama with which you can stitch together 3 images; and Frames which can be fun), a macro mode, white balance controls, a timer, effects (e.g. b&w, sepia), etc. There's even exposure compensation, hah! As far as I can tell, the image stabilizer comes on automatically in particular preset modes (for example, Landscape). After taking the picture the PhotoDJ also lets you adjust light balance, brightness and contrast, red-eye, and add effects and text, frames and clip art. You can get very creative with your multimedia messages. The K800i also takes video, but from what I've heard it's not that good compared to Nokia. It's not a problem to me as I'm not an aficionado. Besides, if you want high quality video, use a camcorder.

Sample Picture Parade
[Note: Keep on clicking on the images to see the largest versions.]

Enough blabbering, let's have `em sample piccies. First off, the photo I posted in my last entry came out grainier than I would have liked. I thought then that it was because of the low light level and picture quality setting ("Normal" which is apparently code for "rather crappy edges").

I took another shot, this one with macro on, pic quality set to Fine. My brother said his K750 takes better pictures. So I checked the EXIF data and it turns out that ISO level (equivalent) was at 400. Unfortunately, you can't choose the ISO level yourself, the camera does it for you. Because it was an interior shot, the light level was low. Presto, grainy shot even with flash. I don't think it was camera shake because the fuzzy edges would have been uniform all throughout the pic, and the EXIF tells me shutter speed was 1/250 (0.0040 seconds). It was the same with the wider shot I mentioned above - all conditions were the same or at least comparable except for picture quality.

Another shot under the same conditions (digital zoom at 1.2x), with slightly better results:

I figured that outdoor shots should be much better (if not, sell the thing! Hee.). Here's one, shot in macro mode. Not tack sharp but for macro on a point-and-shoot, it's not that crappy, is it? For a wide shot version (macro mode off), view this.

Digital zoom 1.4x
Shutter speed 1/320
ISO equivalent 80.

Another one:


ISO equivalent 100
Shutter speed 1/2500

Pretty good I think. I mean for a cellphone, huh? (Pardon the boring subject matter, I will try to take prettier ones next time.)

We can all have our own parameters for judging whether the phone we bought is nice. Or great. Or is highway robbery. So let me say it straight. For me, the K800i is a nifty point-and-shoot that doubles as a cell phone. (Yeah, you read that right.) Kewlness. I just love it. I admit it, I've always wanted a Sony Cyber-shot all along. Hah, but only as a back-up camera. (For the serious stuff, make mine Canon!) This I can carry everyday. No more days wishing you had a camera on you.

New year, old list

So. A new year, and no new list. Nope, because guess what, the list stays the same anyway. What to do this year?

Read more. Like hey, of that pile of books above, I've read only one hee. Some are half read (have acquired the curious habit of reading books simultaneously), some I've only smelled the first pages of. Yeah I smell them, what's that to you?

Exercise more, whine less.

Go on more adventures! (Yes, that's Lara Croft. Ehehe.)

Sit still and be quiet sometimes, listen. That's a bulol right there, see. I don't care much for waiting though. So nope, falafel, no Zen sittings for me, if that's what you thought.

And oh, clean more frequently. Organize your stuff! (That's pretty obvious from the photo, huh?)

Blog more.

Side note. I admit it, I once said that a camera phone is not a camera is a phone is a phone. So give me a kick because I have succumbed and gotten myself a new phone. I never did go for fancy cellphones, but the more I read about the SE K800i the deeper I fell into the trap. So yeah, I got suckered ehehe. Poor me. Yay, the camera rocks (I mean considering that it's a glorified point-and-shoot. It even has exposure compensation, see. Which I must say, they didn't point out in the manual. I discovered it by accident.). I still suck at using it though. The photo above isn't exactly impressive, put the blame on me. Picture quality was set at "Normal", I didn't know that meant 72ppi until I checked the image on the computer. I'll post one set at "Fine" next time. And my hand wasn't steady. I'm not used to tiny cameras, it's much easier to hold an SLR than a camera phone. The unit I got doesn't have an image stabilizer for still photos (it does for video though). No problemo, I'll get used to it. Probably. If not, then I'll use a tripod, hwah, that will look amusing. Big tripod, miniscule camera.

Disclaimer. Am not giving up my digital camera, of course. Make mine Canon. Still.

*comes back*

I just remembered one thing friends have been telling me I should perhaps do more, because I keep forgetting things. Now this is a hoot, because that thing is:

Make lists. Hwah!

From my postcard collection # 4

Dragonfly, Pear, Carnation and Insect (detail)
Mira calligraphiae monumenta (Model book of calligraphy);
Vienna, 1561-62 and ca. 1591-96
Inscribed by Georg Bocskay and illuminated by Joris Hoefnagel
16.6 x 12.4 cm (6 9/16 x 4 7/8 in.)

[Click image to view larger version.]

This is from a very beautiful postcard book I got from The J. Paul Getty Museum, Picturing the Natural World. The back cover notes that:

"In 1561 and 1562 Georg Bocskay, the Croatian-born court secretary of the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I in Vienna, created the Model Book of Calligraphy to demonstrate his unrivaled technical mastery of elaborate and inventive writing styles. He arranged the calligraphy cleverly, giving each page of the book an independent beauty. About thirty years later Joris Hoefnagel, a court artist of Rudolf II, Ferdinand's grandson, was asked to illuminate the manuscript. He added captivating, carefully composed illustrations of flora and fauna to nearly every page and contributed a new section of intricate designs that provide instruction in the art of constructing the letters of the alphabet. The result is one of the most extraordinary collaborations between scrive and painter in the history of manuscript illumination."

Take note that each page from the book was only a few inches wide (check out the measurement above). Hoefnagel illuminated Bocskay's manuscript (whom he had never met, by the way) in miniature, with gold, silver and vellum. The level of detail (as seen in the image above) is astounding! For more on illuminated manuscripts, go here.

For more commentary on this art piece, check out the Getty Museum website here.

A Christmas tune for y'all

Simbang-gabi sa Gesu

I’ve never liked Michael Buble (his singing puts me to sleep, and I hate how he did Kissing a Fool and I don’t care for his A Song for You, pardon to the fans), but this -- ! Christina Aguilera's version is too melismatic for my taste, and Kelly Clarkson's is alright I guess, but a tad too girlish. Now this, Michael's Buble's Grown-up Christmas List, I FLOVE.

Merry Christmas you all! Enjoy the holidays!

War of the Worlds Musical Redux (or Why I Love youtube!)

Back in January I wrote about the staging of Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds Musical in the U.K. (My blog accounts are here, should you like some background info.). The sold-out tour was completed in April to very appreciative audiences (as far as I can tell from the reviews in the web). And while I wasn't looking (that is to say, in November), the dvd was released. I want THIS. But woe, it's only available in Amazon UK. (No, I don't think I'll find it in uhm ah you-know-where. *wiggles eyebrows*)

So the other day I began searching all over the web (not really all over, just the usual places I go to find stuff, which, might I note, rarely fail me) for mp3s and videos of the live show, but nary a one was to be found. Until today, hwah!

I love you youtube, and I love you generous fans who share videos with those of us who for some reason or other have missed stuff we like. (My most effusive thank you to TrockRon of youtube, hey!)

I've seen only a few of the videos I list here, so I'll comment only on those details that I saw. There is a screen on stage where the audience watch a continuous series of images which complement the story that unfolds in front of them with the use of a live orchestra and band. Singers are clad in period costume, and they not only sing but act out their parts. As I mentioned last time, the production planned to resurrect Richard Burton. Or more aptly, Richard Burton's head. He is right there, floating, narrating. And he looks creepy. Apparently they took an image of a young Richard Burton and then superimposed it on a look-alike actor who lipsynched the narration. Consequently, the movement is mostly in the mouth. The eyebrows do go up and down from time to time, and the eyes blink. This image was projected onto a huge plaster head on stage, but the face looks flat. So you get strange. And then again I'm seeing this only on video. Perhaps it looked better live. I wonder how those unfamiliar with the musical reacted to the floating re-animated Burton head with the wiggling eyebrows? I read that they also went ahead with their plan of having a life-size tripod on stage hovering above the actors. I haven't seen the video yet where this appears.

One of the things I had been looking forward to was Russell Watson's performance. Russell the opera singer (actually he's more of a crossover artist), with no theater training whatsoever, took on the role of the famed madman, Parson Nathaniel. Having watched Spirit of Man on youtube, I can see why some were less than happy about him bringing his operatic singing style to the role (I should also report that most reviews I've read declared his performance as "stunning", "excellent", and "outstanding".). Spirit of Man is, after all, one of the rocking-est songs in the musical, and fans are bound to have heard the passionate version of Philip Lynott a hundred times over. You know how some fans tend to be, nothing can be better than the original. Perhaps Russell’s tenor didn't quite ring mad enough for some audience members. Notice for instance, the sustained last note in “When the demons arrive the survivors will envy the deaaaaaad”. Wooah I'm sure that sounded great live and I might have been compelled to stand up and applaud, except that the number would have barely reached the middle by then and it wasn't meant to be an aria, yah? In any case, I like Russell's voice so I'm sure I'll like his version better as I listen to it more and more.

As for the acting, it can still be improved, but it wasn't bad. And to think of what he was going through then! You see, I just recently found out that Russell had been suffering from migraines during the WOTW tour, pains which later progressed to excruciating headaches and impaired vision while recording his new album Love Affair in Los Angeles. Russell was then diagnosed with a brain tumor and had to undergo surgery sometime in September. He’s now reportedly recovering well, and is set to defend his title in the UK tv reality show Just the Two of Us (a celebrity duets challenge; funny how they should have a whole show about something we regularly see on Philippine tv, eh? You know, celebrities who dare to pretend they can sing, and do so with real singers.). Btw, before I move on, Rusell’s makeup in the youtube vid looks awful, what the frack, does a madman have to look like that? *posts nice picture of Russell to erase bad make-up from memory*

Ok I've babbled long enough. Here are the wondrous, fabulous youtube WOTW linkies!

Credits & Prologue (something that isn't found in the Jeff Wayne WOTW), where the Martians plan their attack on Earth. I'm not sure if this scene connects with something else in the production (have not seen the whole thing yet), but for me, the original intro was good enough to start the story. The creepy floating head of Richard Burton is visible already, at the left side of the stage, albeit in shadow. I'm no expert, but the CGI reminds me of video games from several years back.

Part 1 (The well-loved Eve of the War. If you can listen to only one track right now, this is it, this defines the musical WOTW. The creepy floating head starts to talk here.)

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4 (Justin Hayward sings Forever Autumn. Sublime!)

Part 5 (Thunder Child ought to be in here.)

Part 6 (Parson Nathaniel makes his entrance at around 7”; Spirit of Man starts here.)

Part 7 (Spirit of Man continues here)

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

Part 16

TWOTW Musical Live: How it started

Found this web radio thingie

Le'mmesee now... *tinkers*

Hwah it works!!! *claps with glee* (You have to click on the play button.)

Nifty, eh? Stumbled upon radioblogclub.com, searched for some tracks, joined the site (it's free!), played with it a bit and presto hey, I got me a track bar! You can also listen to music from the site without joining. Uploading files and creating your own playlist is a little bit more complicated from what I gather, but that track bar above? Took me 3 minutes ;-)

Oh, in case some of you are wondering what Elliott looks like these days (and just so I can take a jab at the lookist nasties who kept harping on his imperfect teeth during the AI5 days - eat your shoes, you!!!), here are some recent pics. He got his teeth done, sat on a dentist's chair for some 20 hours for dental work that normally would have cost $50,000 (lucky E, the dentist offered his services for free). I'm not liking the hair but the boy is looking nice. (And still, it's the voice that melts.)

Elliott's This Christmas above is available from iTunes, and is doing rather well. Who needs the AI crown? Bah. Last I heard, there might be an announcement of a record deal soon. (A couple of weeks ago he did announce a publishing deal with Sony at his myspace page. Who knows, maybe they know something we don't? Might he turn out to also be a gifted songwriter? Why ink a publishing deal otherwise? Rather unusual, that.)

(Special thanks to L-Dub of Yaminions for gifting me with This Christmas via iTunes. *hugs*)

Unearthed photo files # 1

Orchard Road Mural, Singapore

Angkor: Damned if you do, damned if you don't

So my friend falafel, worlds away, `neath the middle-eastern skies (whenever she manages to go out, that is), e-mails me and remarks, “Have you heard, seems Siem Reap and Angkor are sinking.”. Eek. So I googled it and sure enough, this article states that there is growing concern among experts over the hotels that have been sprouting like mushrooms in the city known as the gateway to Angkor.

National Geographic Traveler’s November/December issue features this article (Pssst my Angkor companions, check this out, see those tourists sprawled over the temple steps?) and this telling image on page 112:

(View larger version here.)

Incidentally, a Destination Scorecard survey recently conducted by Traveler and its National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations with George Washington University asked 419 well-traveled experts worldwide to rate 94 World Heritage destinations according to aesthetic appeal, quality of tourism management, social and cultural integrity, overall outlook for the future and such other criteria. (Check out the full criteria list here.) Angkor earned a dismal score of 48, dropping 4 points from its 2004 score. (To think that just 5 years earlier I was drooling over an Angkor article in Traveler’s 50 Places of a Lifetime special collectors' issue. *sigh*) A score of 48 means that the site is in moderate trouble (all criteria medium-negative or a mix of negatives and positives). The experts say that yes, Angkor and its environs rate high in aesthetics and conservation efforts, but very poorly overall in terms of sustainable tourism and destination stewardship. As in the article I mentioned above, the magazine reports that the water table has become “so depleted by hotel wells that it is destabilizing the foundations of the ruins”. So yeah, Siem Reap and Angkor may be sinking.

In an impoverished country which relies solely on tourism for its lifeblood, it's no wonder that money is prioritized over preservation and sustainability. Even as Cambodia still suffers from the trauma wrought by the Khmer Rouge in the late `70s, those in government continue to fatten their pockets with the fruits of a continuously growing tourism industry. In the meantime, its citizens, most of them ethnic Khmer, descendants of the proud, highly-cultured society who built the famed temples in ancient times, struggle to eke a living out of the ruins of their heritage. (I cannot say how sad it is that I mean that literally.) Children work during the day selling books, postcards and souvenirs around the temples. A lot of young people, I imagine, are studying to become tour guides as one stands to earn a decent income in that occupation. Aside from hotels, ranging from budget guesthouses to the expensive boutique and five-star resort and spas, karaoke bars and who knows what other recreational establishments, are built every day. Siem Reap is fast losing its character as it is literally overrun by busloads of tourists (that includes those coming in planes and taxis, too. *cough*) I read elsewhere that a few years ago, horror of horrors, there were plans of installing a cable car network in Angkor. Let’s hope they never try to take that up again.

So my overly eager footfalls may well contribute to the continuous defacement of one of the world’s most remarkable man-made wonders, and my very arrival at Siem Reap to the irreversible loss of its old-world charm. Great. Damned if I do, damned if I don’t. Perhaps. National Geographic, UNESCO, I’m counting on you. Pardon me if in the meantime I still go anyway. I don’t want to have to go to a theme park, darn it. Cable cars? Presposterous.

From my postcard collection # 3

Recently sent from Bordeaux, France. Acquired at Venice. (Thanks Ninfa!)

Fritellino drawn by Maurice Sand, published in 1860. Commedia dell' Arte character wearing a mask and a plumed hat. Beard. Wooden sabre.

Happy Feet: Don’t Pan the Penguins!

“I saw an animal do that once, but then they rolled him over and he was dead.”

~ one of Ramon’s mariachi buddies, on Mumble’s singing

One word to sum up the movie: Delightful.

What I liked:

• Need I write it down? It’s about penguins. Penguins are fascinating, and always adorable. Oh, except for Danny de Vito in the Batman movie.

• Mumble is extremely adorable. I didn’t realize that Baby Mumble’s voice was not Elijah’s until I checked the cast list. In any case, Elijah Wood, himself somewhat odd-looking, is a good choice to cast as one set apart from all others by his less penguinly looks and talents. I thought it an amusing touch to make Mumble’s coloring such that the tuxedo effect was more pronounced – yeah, all penguins do look like they are wearing tuxedos, but Mumble more so, with a bowtie and grey vest. Tuxedos and tap dancing, hee.

• The music. They had me at the 1^st scene. The Norma Jean and Memphis opening duet was so fabulous it reminded me of Moulin Rouge. Gloria’s Somebody to Love at the graduation had me giggling the whole time. (Pretty good singing too, hey!) Pop, R&B, blues, hiphop, even some gospel, so much of the music was fun and enjoyable.

• Ramon and his merry band of mariachi misfits (the tiny Adelie penguins) provided many of the laugh-or-cry moments that I loved in the movie.

• The pathos. Naturally it can’t top National Geographic’s March of the Penguins when it comes to dramatizing the Emperor penguins’ journey to the most inhospitable of environments to bear their young, but I also found Mumble’s own struggle to express his individuality easy to relate to, and touching. `Course, those who aren’t into anthropomorphism might not agree.
  

• The animation. Eat your heart out, Pixar, those are darn life-like fluffy feathers! Check out the grey down on the baby penguins. And very smooth, fluid movements. Fear not though, you’ve got one over Animal Logic where it comes to facial expressions (Animal Logic or whichever of the two other special effects companies they employed, that is). The filmmakers relied on music to convey emotions, not so much on characters’ visible expressions. To be fair though, how can you do that with only beady penguin eyes, a beak and a whole lot of feathers? Not that Mumble's eyes are anywhere near beady, nor Elijah's. They could have taken advantage of those clear blue pools, imo. (No one can beat Weta’s Gollum yet where emotions of CG characters are concerned, though.)

What I willingly overlooked: the booboos

• The abrupt transition from Mumble in Penguin Park to his return home. Surely they could have done that better? I would have loved to see a National Geographic reference.

• Apparently Lovelace is a rockhopper penguin. (Yes, there is such a creature, check it out here.) Robin Williams is great as a rock-hopping mad guru figure. Thing is, there are only 2 species of penguins that live in Antartica, and rockhoppers aren’t one of them. Well, they could have written a backstory for him, say Lovelace stowed away on a ship to Antartica... nah, too Madagascar, that. Well any long-travelling guru and such and such story then. (Heh, Lovelace should have been Latino too, rockhoppers live in South America.)
  

• Some critics gripe that the movie tried to be everything all at once: it was advocating for the environment, it was about being different, surviving in the Antartican wilderness, about love, loss of innocence, coming of age, humans' continuing domination of the planet, the cruelty of uprooting animals from their natural habitat, etc etc. Yes, it was ambitious to try to convey all that. But who cares if it worked in that respect or not? Happy Feet is about penguins. Who doesn’t like penguins?
  
  
  
  
  
  Interesting detail: Steve Irwin, the late crocodile hunter, provided the voice for Trev, one of the humongous elephant seals who Mumble and company spoke to as they approached the ocean. The movie was dedicated to Irwin.
  

R. Hidalgo St., with arms wide open

Several months ago I read an article about the local government's plan (based on John Chua's initiative) to rehabilitate what was once widely popular as Quiapo's camera street. For the clueless, R. Hidalgo in years past was as synonymous to cameras as Raon was to electronics. (Still clueless? Never mind, just take my word for it.) Nowadays photographers who know of Hidalgo can be classified into 2 categories: (1) the uh *cough* most experienced, i.e., the mature ones *cough* and (2) the more persistent and dedicated hobbyists and professionals. Some photographers have never even set foot on Hidalgo, opting to get their gear elsewhere. (A common misperception is that cameras sold there don't carry warranties.)

I went there last Saturday to buy replacement batteries for my camera (I have killed my original batteries after 2 years of use, pretty good I guess), and I was surprised to find that I could actually see through to the end of the street. Ah, so that's what it looks like. Ehehe.

Whereas before, navigating your way through involved skillful slinking and maneuvering between crates, kaings, bilaos, banigs, boxboard sheets, make-shift stalls, and carts filled with all manner of items for sale -- say fruits, vegetables, garments, underwear, toys, plasticware, custom jewelry, fashion accessories, crafts components and other knick knacks -- in addition to the continuous surrounding human traffic moving at varying rates, from leisurely to quick-paced to so annoyingly hurried that you'd get pushed and pulled from and to every direction, now you can actually walk in the middle of the calle with both arms stretched! No more intimate, sweaty hobnobbing with every Kulas and Kulasa you pass by. In place of all that clutter now are streetlamps and benches. And oh, the ground is paved with brick tiles. All still quite ugly, but hey, there's air!

So now, if you're in R. Hidalgo and a pungent smell assaults your nose (meaning it's somewhere close), but you're standing in the middle of the street with so much space about you, chances are, it's probably you.

For directions to R. Hidalgo St., Quiapo, go here.

Disclaimer: I'm not actually suggesting that you go there stand with arms stretched out, particularly if you have something expensive-looking slung over your shoulder. That sort of thing might well be an invitation to get robbed.

Contemplating Angkor

If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.

~ Henry Miller

Yeah, you read that right. Angkor. “Angkor what?”, you say? Exactly, Angkor Wat. You know, the UNESCO world heritage site, Hindu & Buddhist temple ruins, one of the wonders of the world, site of some of the most magnificent man-made monuments on this planet. Huh, still asking “Angkor what?”? *sigh* Eh, haller, try to remember Tomb Raider movie # 1 then, that might ring a bell.

I had always wanted to go see the Angkor temples. You see, I have a thing for ruins and other vestiges of the ancient world. In any case, when my friend Cho and I heard about discounted Bangkok flights a couple of months back, my first thought was setting foot at last on Cambodia, that land of the Khmer that is associated with Pol Pot’s killing fields as much as it is with the magnificent sandstone monuments built in the heyday of Khmerian god-kings.

The route we picked (the overland Bangkok-Aranyaprathet-Border -Poipet-Siem Reap route) involves what by most accounts in the web, is popularly known as the bus ride to hell. At first I was unfazed. Surely it can’t be worse than the transportation system here, huh? For instance, I have taken the Baguio-Sagada bus ride that yes, is breathtakingly scenic and all that, but one that goes on forever and ever and ever, with toilet stops that make French tourists virtually cry while taking a pee in holes on concrete floors, or bumpy jeepney rides aggravated by worries about being ambushed by highway robbers in Kalinga (or is it Abra, I forget) and insensitive bus conductors and passengers who sing the karaoke (and very badly) on an hours-long trip where you’d rather sleep since there isn’t much to see anyway as you traverse the arid Aurora plains. And oh, let’s not forget my most hated bus trip of all: 10-hour Tuguegarao-Manila day trips. Arggh, boredom that stretches out to 10 hours, and that involves sun (being in an air-conditioned bus makes no difference to me)! Now that’s the pits. So going back to Cambodia. I was thinking: hmm, two four-hour bus rides across two foreign countries, with an interesting border crossing in between, how hard can it be? Might turn out to be a piece of cake, yeah?

Well, my research tells me the answer is No. Interesting yes, but hardly a piece of cake. For starters, take a gander at the picture here and here. Hwaah! Now I’m daunted. Once at Aranyaprathet, one is supposed to pass through Immigration, in itself proven to be an event-filled chore particularly for those who have to get a visa (thank goodness we Pinoys don’t have to because we're part of ASEAN), then take a short tuktuk ride to get to the Cambodian side. Poipet is said to be a hellhole (other travelers’ words, not mine) filled with thieves and scammers. The detailed description and travelers’ accounts in talesofasia.com, lonelyplanet.com, and travelblogs.com make me think of Poipet as an exaggerated version of Quiapo or Cubao or Baclaran, but what do I know? The main thing to remember, they say, is not to spend more time in Poipet than you have to. Alright then, I guess I won’t be setting my tripod there. I haven’t even talked about the other bus ride yet. The Poipet-Siem Reap bus trip has been described as a total nightmare. Apart from the shitty road condition (there’s a rumour that a Thai airline company has been paying off Cambodian officials so that they won’t fix the roads thereby ensuring said Thai airline’s monopoly; not too farfetched, imo, if you check out how much the airline is charging for a crummy 45-minute flight), let’s see, there’s the “official” (government-run) bus which can take a good while as it is alas-puno, as we say in the vernacular. Alas-puno essentially means the bus will leave when it is full. Who knows how long that will take, huh? The alternative, the tourist bus is even worse. That is why this is called the scam bus. Unfortunate suckers who go for the dirt-cheap Bangkok-Siem Reap package commonly sold in Khao San Road have reportedly suffered through 10 hour or longer trips punctuated by interminable stop-overs, flat tires and all kinds of vehicular problems, only to find themselves magically booked in one of the bus company’s partner hostels and guesthouses. By “magically” I don’t mean they can Houdini themselves out of the uh arrangement. What a frack of an obstacle course to get to Siem Reap, huh? Fortunately, there’s a 3rd alternative: taking a taxi. So to hell with buses.

All of this will take anywhere from 6 to 8 or 9 hours of travel, assuming one doesn’t take the scam buses, as those can take forever. If one is clueless and is the type who sticks out like a dolled-up socialite standing amidst the human traffic in Villalobos Street on a Friday afternoon, then well, yeah, one might want to think twice about taking this route. But us? Nah, we’re not afraid, are we? What else is there to be afraid of? Swarms of locals selling their wares? Missing the sunrise and sunset hours? Viewing sunrise and sunset at popular Angkorian spots while rubbing elbows with thousands of tourists? Cameras running out of batteries? Running out of memory cards? Getting a guide who annoyingly commands you to “quick, take picture here!”? Accidentally falling into Tonle Sap? Climbing up Angkor Wat’s steep stairs (70 degrees baby!) under an unforgiving sun? Yeah those are daunting. But land mines? Terrifying.

ETA. Sssh don't mention land mines to my mom. Or Poipet.

A dream of saffron-robed monks

Some nights ago I had this dream. I am not sure where I was, somewhere in the city. There was an event, lots of people were coming to this place. My friend Q was there, she was coordinating with her hubby S on a walkie-talkie, apparently in-charge of securing the visiting monks. Buddhist monks in saffron robes walked by with fashionable duffel bags, Cartier and Gucci maybe, made of canvas and leather, predominantly brown-colored with saffron accents and big buckles. I was the main event. I was a boxer. Pretty strange because I don’t like boxing at all, as it’s a savage sport. (This was several days after the much-vaunted Pacquiao-Morales fight, which I didn’t watch with the rest of the country.) I went across to another building, my relatives were there. Some didn't take notice of me.

Now that I think of it, what was so striking about the dream was this: Buddhist monks, the most ascetic of creatures, were coming in droves (so many that security measures had to be ensured) to see me, the savage, perform my trade. Eh, that’s a lot to chew on.

Ganesha, remover of all obstacles

Ganesha. Collage by Nick Bantock,
from The Venetian's Wife (1996).

"The one who moves towards knowledge of the timeless is never afraid." -- The Arthava Veda, Ganesha Upanishad

Caleruega, Trip II

On a clear day. 17 Nov., 2006

Luted Fields of Gold

Nicked for your listening pleasure, folks. Sting performing one of his most popular songs with the lute at Studio 60. There are a couple of actors from the show talking over the track though. (Filchers can't be choosers.):

Elizabethan-flavored Fields of Gold

So, did you giggle? get misty? sit aghast? Come on then, let it out!

My Zen's beauty wrap

I recently got my Zen player a beauty wrap from GMask. Lookee, it's purty. *purrs* :

The GMask wrap is not only decorative but protective as well. You can choose from a variety of designs, or if you like, you can make your own. The wrap takes 45 minutes to an hour to do. The attendants are very helpful and accomodating. All sorts of electronic gadgets can be wrapped: cellular phones, personal music players, digital cameras, PDAs, even laptops and notebooks. Learn more about GMask from their website.

(And yeah, I'm a Creative user, not iPod. Creative's mp3 players are much more functional - you have an FM tuner, recorder, and data storage in addition. Plus, with the accompanying software (Creative MediaSource), you can record audio from the web or your computer. And oh, audio quality is excellent.)

* Friendly reminder to fellow PMP users: Listening to your PMPs constantly, for prolonged periods, and at high volumes can make you deaf sooner (like at 40!). Following the 60-60 rule is recommended. Read about it here: How music to the ears is deafening for the MP3 generation.

The problem with imagining Sting in tights

The first time I read about Sting taking on Elizabethan music, as in John Dowland songs arranged for the lute, I immediately thought it would tank (sorry Stingie). And then when I heard a 30-second clip of him singing

I sit, I sigh,
I weep, I faint,
I die, in deadly pain
and endless misery

I giggled and giggled. Yeah I know, shame on me. It somehow reminded me of Panchito and Dolphy singing “Hopiang di mabili, inaamag kasi” to the tune of La donna est mobile. Or maybe I was giggling because I was imagining Sting as a traveling bard in tights and ruffly poet’s shirt (opened to the abdomen, of course).

Since then Songs from the Labyrinth topped the UK’s classical charts, and more surprisingly, reached the #24 spot in the pop charts! So here I am listening to the Englishman’s distinctive tenor crooning in time with lutenist Edin Karamazov’s string-plucking, and oy, I must say it is rather pleasant. Particularly those songs where Sting harmonizes with himself. They sound very strange at first, all those rounded O’s and sonorous notes that almost sound like wails. But once you’re used to the style, the music can be quite relaxing (very good for sleeping in fact). Interspersed between the music tracks are readings from Dowland’s letters. How can anyone not find Sting’s lovely British speaking voice appealing?

Snooping around blogs I chanced upon an audio file of Sting’s guesting at Studio 60 where he sang Fields of Gold accompanied by the lute (which he played himself; he also plays on a few tracks in Labyrinth). Like the songs in his new album, the lutenized Fields of Gold is quite soothing once you get over the shock. I will upload it and post a linkie here soon.

`Abracadabra' is the operative word

* Note: I tried to make this as spoiler-free as possible.

The film is a sleight of hand, a series of misdirections, a skillful trick. Like Cutter (Michael Caine) says at the start, as in magic, you have to watch very closely. Who needs the Wachowski brothers? I’ll take the Nolan brothers over them anytime. They are so much subtler, not as in-your- face (I am not amused by the Wachowskis’ “look at how many allusions we’ve embedded in our movie aren’t we so very smart” references particularly in the indigestion-inducing Matrix Reloaded). I love The Prestige not so much for the mystery as for the writing. The film is structured in a non-linear fashion, with 3 timelines crisscrossing each other: in the present, a fatal accident occurs and Borden (Christian Bale) is on trial. He is given Angier’s (Hugh Jackman) journal, in which Angier recounts his search to unlock the secret of Borden’s Transported Man by decrypting the latter’s notebook, which in turn recounts how they started out as assistants and eventually became the most bitter of rivals.

It is a multi-layered story that is not only about magic in the Victorian age, but is also about rivalry and revenge, about what it costs to create a grand illusion, about the thin line between driving passion and all-consuming obsession.

Some were turned-off by the (Angier-related) twist at the end. (Waaha, it's a sci-fi fantasy film pala!) For me, that wasn’t actually the major twist that viewers were being led to. (If Tesla's science, or magic depending on whose POV -- I love how the setting was in the Victorian era, at a time when rationality and intuition were starting to collide -- was meant to be the climactic twist then they wouldn’t have shown us all those hats and cats in his backyard.) Borden’s secret was the greater twist. While I suspected it earlier on, I still couldn’t be sure till the very end, for, like a good magic trick, the filmmakers left room for doubt, much like Angier’s trapdoor in his final performances. You think you know but you really can’t be sure. (And then again, if you are a smart aleck and did know for sure, it’s still a dang well-written movie!)

What does it take to enjoy The Prestige? The very thing that witnessing magic requires: suspension of disbelief. If you fail at that, then the movie will probably suck.

End note. David Bowie is in the movie. What a surprise, I didn’t know that until I checked the cast list a day after seeing it. So that’s why Tesla looked vaguely familiar. I did recognize Andy Serkis (a.k.a. Gollum) instantly though. Huh, figure that out.

Songwriting that Stings

* Originally posted in LJ on November 1. *

At a pinoyexchange (a.k.a. Pex) thread I started a few days ago (we'll get to that in the next entry), dindi mentioned one of Sting's songs from his Brand New Day (1999) album. Back then, I confess that after a couple of listens, I declared the album a dud. I didn't like any other songs apart from After the Rain Has Fallen and A Thousand Years (which really, shame on you, Mr. Sumner, I thought of only as a cheap ploy to cash in and sell the millennium its theme song. But oh, wait, it should be two thousand years then, right, not only a thousand. Ah, I remember now, it was Brand New Day which I judged to be the sell-out song.). In any case, I had basically bought the cd for Desert Rose (which, needless to say, I lurve).

Anyway, chalk it up to ADD-ishness or the fact that I loved Ten Summoner's Tales too much or the possibility that I simply did not listen to it closely enough - Ghost Story passed right over my head. So then now, dindi mentions the song in the Pex forums, and I decide to go have a listen again. I must say, I appreciate it a whole lot more now, and I think I'm beginning to love it. Some of the most poignant, moving songs Sting has ever written are in fact, about his complicated relationship with his father (the senior Mr. Sumner passed on several years ago.).

With Ghost Story, the former English teacher's writing again demonstrates an elusive, poetical quality. You may know exactly what he's talking about, or you may only sense the emotions yet not fully grasp it. In my case, the song speaks. Underneath the lyrical monologues, the graceful, cadenced musings and introspection, Sting asks himself questions which echo my own. The second half of the song goes:

What is the force that binds the stars?
I wore this mask to hide my scars
What is the power that pulls the tide?
Never could find a place to hide

What moves the earth around the sun?
What could I do but run and run and run?
Afraid to love, afraid to fail
A mast without a sail

The moon's a fingernail
And slowly sinking
Another day begins
And now I'm thinking

That this indifference
Was my invention
When everything I did
Sought your attention

You were my compass star
You were my measure
You were a pirate's map
Of buried treasure

If this was all correct
The last thing I'd expect
The prosecution rests
It's time that I confessed
I must have loved you
I must have loved you

Listen to Ghost Story here.

As simple and compelling as all that, and still it does not top another song he wrote about his father, what I think to be one of his most beautiful songs ever: Why Should I Cry for You?. I will say nothing more, just read the lyrics for yourself, or listen to it here.

Why Should I Cry For You ?

Under the dog star sail
Over the reefs of moonshine
Under the skies of fall
North, north west, the Stones of Faroe

Under the Arctic fire
Over the seas of silence
Hauling on frozen ropes
For all my days remaining
But would north be true?

All colours bleed to red
Asleep on the ocean's bed
Drifting on empty seas
For all my days remaining

But would north be true?
Why should I?
Why should I cry for you?
Dark angels follow me
Over a godless sea
Mountains of endless falling,
For all my days remaining,
What would be true?

Sometimes I see your face,
The stars seem to lose their place
Why must I think of you?
Why must I?
Why should I?
Why should I cry for you?
Why would you want me to?
And what would it mean to say,
That, "I loved you in my fashion"?

What would be true?
Why should I?
Why should I cry for you?

Aaaaam back!

Finally I can publish! Egad, that was horrible. Blogger's been having problems and I've been locked out of here since I posted that entry below. I was forced to use LJ for a while. Thank goodness I got this back. Though I've lost all my customization (check out the sidebar). Oh well, at least everything else is intact.

Look, I got me a John Legend media player. Hah! (Never mind the ridiculous juxtaposition of nearly naked women and religious iconography (blasted MTV director), that's one fabulous church!) #3 on Billboard, baby! (Will write about the album soon.)

Will have to start rebuilding little by little. I kinda like this new set-up. Nice color, clean minimalist look.

Post hiatus

So yeah, I haven’t been blogging for aeons. Haven’t been doing anything creatively for that matter, as I’ve somewhat lost my mojo. (Hello Zoloft, I’ve been thinking of you.) I still feel like I haven’t got it back yet, but perhaps blogging again can help. No book reviews like I planned a while back, as I haven’t been reading much either. My eyes, you see. I’m in uhm, transition. No, it’s not that letters have begun to blur lately, nor that tiny characters in my Zen player which I had effortlessly been able to read only a year ago have now inexplicably become unintelligible at the same distance and in the same half-light on evenings in bed when I usually enjoy my mp3s before going to La-la land. It’s that I can’t read for too long lately without being overcome with the dreadful suspicion that mis ojos may need some sort of assistance in getting my optic nerves to operate their auto focus. (Let’s leave it at that, shall we?)

Consequently, the books I’ve been meaning to read (and finish – I have been reading several at the same time) have piled up. I’ve been spending more time on tv series (on dibidi, er I mean dvd!) and music as a result. So the next few entries will probably be all about that. (Well hullo, the American Idol entries are still under this one, let me just edge those out as quickly as I can. Not that I’m completely done with the topic as I’ve since found an even more rant potential-filled topic: Philippine Idol! Yes folks, I have gone bakya. No matter, we’ll get to that soon enough. Unless I lose interest entirely. *roll eyes* And move on to Pinoy Dream Academy. Haah!)

Currently listening to: The Heart of the Matter, India.Arie