Since I had been overacting here about my broken VCR and TV, I guess it’s just proper that I update you about the matter. Yep, we already have a new TV! Well it’s actually not brand new, more like a second-hand Japanese-imported TV. It arrived last Saturday, two days after our landlord arrived from his European cruise. Evil me, I subtly blackmailed our house helper prior by threatening that I would transfer to another boarding house if they would not replace the TV. LOL! :) Obviously, my acting’s good based on the swift results.
Not everything’s resolved, though. Apparently, the new TV is not cable-ready. Pathetic, I know! I just have to contend myself by watching free TV channels. Good thing, Survivor’s on Studio 23 but being a pop culture fanatic, I know it’s not enough. So I figured the only way for me to watch cable television programs from a non-cable ready TV set is through my VCR.
But the VCR is another issue in itself. Remember Mr. Fix It? Well, “he” wasn’t able to fix it. :) That’s why when my friend Arah offered to have the VCR fixed with her own money so she can borrow it, I readily agreed and even hastily told her she can have the VCR until next year. That time, she needed to record the last episodes of the soap Kaytagal Kang Hinintay where she’s the writer. I actually thought (still think) it’s a good deal. I couldn’t find any decent electronic shop to fix the equipment plus I don’t have the money to spare anyway. Besides, what’s the use of a good VCR without TV?
Simply put, I’m too shy to tell her now that I need the VCR back. She spent much for its repair and it’s just fair that I keep my word to her. I guess I’ll just have to wait. I like to think I can manage one more month or so of a “no cable” and “no VCR” life. As you know, in those days that I actually had no TV at all, I rediscovered my affinity for radio. I also got to finish 2 good novels – Amy Tan’s The Bonesetter’s Daughter (typical Amy Tan but non-typical storytelling) and Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones (simply beautiful, I unabashedly bawled out in the last few chapters).
In its time.
Showing posts with label Recreation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recreation. Show all posts
November 20, 2003
October 30, 2003
Radio Ga-Ga
It's been more than two weeks already since I started living a television-free life. I tell you, it sucks! If before, I always look forward to bum days because I would get to see my favorite TV shows, now I dread staying in my boarding house for even just an hour. I'm so pathetic. I miss Rory and Lorelai! I miss Mommy Elvie in Misadventures! Heck, I even missed the series finale of Dawson's Creek! (Although thanks to Miaka's generousity, she recorded the show for me.)
Good thing (or consolation enough), my roomie left his radio in our room. Back in college, I was the radio guy. Our dorm TV's on until 1am only and since there were like hundreds of us sharing one boob tube, I turned myself to the radio. Man, those were the days! My faves then were NU 107 and RJ Radio. And I was the OC listener. I'd stay up until 12midnight just to hear the Midnight Countdown and not only that, I had a notebook wherein I listed down the top 12 hits per week! :) I still remember purist rocks fans getting angry when Hanson's "Mmm Bop" made it to the charts, Fuel's "Shimmer" staying put in the countdown for more than one year, and Weezer's chart-topper "Pink Triangle" being my official rock anthem in sophomore college. Being a happy lister, I followed both charts of NU's and Rick Dees (so I also get updated with American Pop.) My affinity for radio ended when I graduated from college and began working. And since I worked for the visual medium, I started focusing more on TV and the cinema.
Things have surely changed while listening again to radio these days. There's already a Jam 83.9 station that plays some good acoustic pop. KC FM which used to be "We Are Family" KC radio is now gone. Chico and Delamar are back in Monster Radio. Radio Romance is already DWRR "For Life" and together with "Kailangan pa bang I-memorize yan" are the "jologs" radio stations to reckon with. They already upstaged Campus Radio "Forever!" which back in college overused the Mission Impossible theme as its station jingle. :) I'm already not familiar with the deejays but I never was anyway. It's because I don't like it when deejay's talk more about themselves and their opinions about floppy issues rather than the music. As if the fake American twangs aren't irritating enough!
I am very glad though that NU 107 still rocks! They still have deejays with fake British twangs but at least their Remote Control Weekend remains playing good music. It's definitely nostalgic to hear Creeper Lagoon's "Dear Deadly", Blur's "Beetlebum" (from which I got my pseudonym), and Better than Ezra's "At The Stars". Listening to the Midnight Countdown last Saturday, I realized how I missed some good music because of not listening to the radio. Among the hits that weekend, I like Me 1st and The Gimme Gimme's version of "The End of the Road" (a riot!). Itchyworms topped the charts with "Buwan". (And the deejay told the listeners that they're on Friendster! Oh really! "Just type Itchyworms as the first name and Band as the surname.") Itchyworms is a decent band but nothing really beats the Pinoy alt-pop bands of the mid-90's. Itchyworms just sounds so bohemian burgoise, although to their credit they make their own music.
The good effect is that listening again to good music made me want to mixed tapes (or CDs now) again. I used to do this in college, being poor and not being able to afford an orig CD or even, tape. In fact I shared my mixed tapes with my younger sis and I'm so glad that it made her want to become an alt-chick rather than a pop bimbo considering she's part of the Spice Girls and Britney era. Don't get me wrong though, I love the Spice Girls but you must admit you don't want your younger sisters to act like them. So anyways, I checked my High Fidelity yearend list of Top 10 songs since 1999 and asked my good friend Michiko to burn the music for me. Looking at my list, I was surprised how mainstream I've become after I graduated. I was embarrased to see Britney Spears, A1 and N'Sync on my list along with Collective Soul and Fatboy Slim. :) But only temporarily because I did like those songs and one thing I don't wanna become is to be the snobbish music listener. So what if I like the Dido-composed "I'm Not A Girl Not Yet A Woman?"?!? :) Liking those pop songs is actually symbolic and memorable for me since those were also the years when I began working for mainstream media; working for which ironically opened up my mind and freed myself from elitism. Who has the authority to say what's cool and uncool to listen to anyway? When I was younger, I listened to a lot of "jologs" songs and I wasn't ashamed to sing along with them. The "cool" concept is just uncool. Music should be looked more as part of our life stories and society's history.
As Madonna croans, "Music makes the bourgoise and the rebel." :)
Good thing (or consolation enough), my roomie left his radio in our room. Back in college, I was the radio guy. Our dorm TV's on until 1am only and since there were like hundreds of us sharing one boob tube, I turned myself to the radio. Man, those were the days! My faves then were NU 107 and RJ Radio. And I was the OC listener. I'd stay up until 12midnight just to hear the Midnight Countdown and not only that, I had a notebook wherein I listed down the top 12 hits per week! :) I still remember purist rocks fans getting angry when Hanson's "Mmm Bop" made it to the charts, Fuel's "Shimmer" staying put in the countdown for more than one year, and Weezer's chart-topper "Pink Triangle" being my official rock anthem in sophomore college. Being a happy lister, I followed both charts of NU's and Rick Dees (so I also get updated with American Pop.) My affinity for radio ended when I graduated from college and began working. And since I worked for the visual medium, I started focusing more on TV and the cinema.
Things have surely changed while listening again to radio these days. There's already a Jam 83.9 station that plays some good acoustic pop. KC FM which used to be "We Are Family" KC radio is now gone. Chico and Delamar are back in Monster Radio. Radio Romance is already DWRR "For Life" and together with "Kailangan pa bang I-memorize yan" are the "jologs" radio stations to reckon with. They already upstaged Campus Radio "Forever!" which back in college overused the Mission Impossible theme as its station jingle. :) I'm already not familiar with the deejays but I never was anyway. It's because I don't like it when deejay's talk more about themselves and their opinions about floppy issues rather than the music. As if the fake American twangs aren't irritating enough!
I am very glad though that NU 107 still rocks! They still have deejays with fake British twangs but at least their Remote Control Weekend remains playing good music. It's definitely nostalgic to hear Creeper Lagoon's "Dear Deadly", Blur's "Beetlebum" (from which I got my pseudonym), and Better than Ezra's "At The Stars". Listening to the Midnight Countdown last Saturday, I realized how I missed some good music because of not listening to the radio. Among the hits that weekend, I like Me 1st and The Gimme Gimme's version of "The End of the Road" (a riot!). Itchyworms topped the charts with "Buwan". (And the deejay told the listeners that they're on Friendster! Oh really! "Just type Itchyworms as the first name and Band as the surname.") Itchyworms is a decent band but nothing really beats the Pinoy alt-pop bands of the mid-90's. Itchyworms just sounds so bohemian burgoise, although to their credit they make their own music.
The good effect is that listening again to good music made me want to mixed tapes (or CDs now) again. I used to do this in college, being poor and not being able to afford an orig CD or even, tape. In fact I shared my mixed tapes with my younger sis and I'm so glad that it made her want to become an alt-chick rather than a pop bimbo considering she's part of the Spice Girls and Britney era. Don't get me wrong though, I love the Spice Girls but you must admit you don't want your younger sisters to act like them. So anyways, I checked my High Fidelity yearend list of Top 10 songs since 1999 and asked my good friend Michiko to burn the music for me. Looking at my list, I was surprised how mainstream I've become after I graduated. I was embarrased to see Britney Spears, A1 and N'Sync on my list along with Collective Soul and Fatboy Slim. :) But only temporarily because I did like those songs and one thing I don't wanna become is to be the snobbish music listener. So what if I like the Dido-composed "I'm Not A Girl Not Yet A Woman?"?!? :) Liking those pop songs is actually symbolic and memorable for me since those were also the years when I began working for mainstream media; working for which ironically opened up my mind and freed myself from elitism. Who has the authority to say what's cool and uncool to listen to anyway? When I was younger, I listened to a lot of "jologs" songs and I wasn't ashamed to sing along with them. The "cool" concept is just uncool. Music should be looked more as part of our life stories and society's history.
As Madonna croans, "Music makes the bourgoise and the rebel." :)
October 12, 2003
Coffee and TV
Fate is really against me.
I got home from a 24-hour shoot six this morning and still overdosed with caffeine and 3 caplets of pain reliever. I was "bangag" literally. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise for I felt nothing when I found out our TV's broken. Yes! Last week, the VCR ... today, the boob tube. Am I lucky or what? Is this what you call a charmed life? Am I ridiculously redundant if I continue reiterating that I don't have moolah to buy a new set?
I need sponsorship. I like to think I'm serious.
I got home from a 24-hour shoot six this morning and still overdosed with caffeine and 3 caplets of pain reliever. I was "bangag" literally. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise for I felt nothing when I found out our TV's broken. Yes! Last week, the VCR ... today, the boob tube. Am I lucky or what? Is this what you call a charmed life? Am I ridiculously redundant if I continue reiterating that I don't have moolah to buy a new set?
I need sponsorship. I like to think I'm serious.
October 06, 2003
Confessions of a Couch Patatas
I feel incomplete.
Last week, after a straight 5-day shoot for the movie My First Romance, I was excited to go home to watch the TV shows I recorded on my VCR. Being a couch "patatas", I regularly record my favorite shows and that week was more exceptional since Gosford Park and the Joey Gosengfiao classic Temptation Island were shown on cable. Imagine my dismay when I found out my VCR got broken. I immediately panicked. Not only because I would be missing the last two episodes of Dawson's Creek but also because I know VHS players are already obsolete. (Read: they're already priceless for us, pop culture fans in Third World countries who don't have Tivo yet.) Besides, even if I search Buy & Sell, I know I don't have the money to buy another used one.
So I texted all my friends around my area and asked if they know of an electronic store that fixes VCRs. My former roommate Marlon recommended Mr. Fix It along Katipunan. The store looked "professional" enough so I thought they would provide a fast and efficient service. Well guess what, my VCR has been with them for a week already (they told me it will be done in 2 days) and they still haven't fixed it! What more, if I hadn't texted them last weekend, they wouldn't have updated me about its status. And still they have the nerve to ask for more money since they also just (the key word here is "just") found out that some gear needs to be replaced! I am really angry. These are the days that I wish I pursued law.
Now I'm usually the patient kind and it's definitely not in my character to ruin the reputation of someone's business but you know this is too much! You must understand that this comes from someone whose major vice is watching television. If you're a chain smoker, think about how you felt when the government started imposing a smoking ban in public places. My feeling's much worse.
I'm calling them again later to find out how much they're going to charge me for that "gear". If the amount's incredible, I guess I have no other choice but grab the latest Buy and Sell.
Last week, after a straight 5-day shoot for the movie My First Romance, I was excited to go home to watch the TV shows I recorded on my VCR. Being a couch "patatas", I regularly record my favorite shows and that week was more exceptional since Gosford Park and the Joey Gosengfiao classic Temptation Island were shown on cable. Imagine my dismay when I found out my VCR got broken. I immediately panicked. Not only because I would be missing the last two episodes of Dawson's Creek but also because I know VHS players are already obsolete. (Read: they're already priceless for us, pop culture fans in Third World countries who don't have Tivo yet.) Besides, even if I search Buy & Sell, I know I don't have the money to buy another used one.
So I texted all my friends around my area and asked if they know of an electronic store that fixes VCRs. My former roommate Marlon recommended Mr. Fix It along Katipunan. The store looked "professional" enough so I thought they would provide a fast and efficient service. Well guess what, my VCR has been with them for a week already (they told me it will be done in 2 days) and they still haven't fixed it! What more, if I hadn't texted them last weekend, they wouldn't have updated me about its status. And still they have the nerve to ask for more money since they also just (the key word here is "just") found out that some gear needs to be replaced! I am really angry. These are the days that I wish I pursued law.
Now I'm usually the patient kind and it's definitely not in my character to ruin the reputation of someone's business but you know this is too much! You must understand that this comes from someone whose major vice is watching television. If you're a chain smoker, think about how you felt when the government started imposing a smoking ban in public places. My feeling's much worse.
I'm calling them again later to find out how much they're going to charge me for that "gear". If the amount's incredible, I guess I have no other choice but grab the latest Buy and Sell.
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