My 26th!

Yep, it's my 26th year of existence today, happy birthday to me! :) Celebrated it last Saturday night with a party and dod, "I had a blast" is the overused sentence of the year! Haha! It's the first time actually that I hosted a birthday party. Heck, it's my first birthday party since I was 12 years old! :) I had some apprehension at first. The reason why I chose not to celebrate my birthdays with a party before is because I hate being the center of attention. You know, everyone focusing on you because you're the birthday boy. Don't like that! More so, I was thinking what if my guests wouldn't enjoy my party? Would hate that! Glad I was all mistaken! I'm blessed to have such cool friends who didn't mind mingling with guests whom they just met for the first time and who didn't bother to bother the party host. It was pure geeky fun with some "magic sing" videoke contest, some card gambling, some unadulterated chitchats, some booze, and some recreational drugs. I don't know if I will still have enough moolah to host another birthday party next year, but this year's was just too much fun. I confess I got teary-eyed later on, realizing the person up there really loves me so.


Birthday boy posing with the birthday food


Blowing the candles, yipee!


Emman cutting the lechon biik


With unexpected guest HAGORN, yebah! It was an honor. I mean, Jessica Zafra said he's the next big thing, what more can I say! I like his cool demeanor and unassuming stance. Bagay sila ni Michiko. I'm rooting for their loveteam! Haha! :)

MORE RANDOM PICS...

Videoke Queen

Wanna see what happens when my friends and I go for a videoke night-out?!? Here's a vid of my friend Yam channeling Alanis. Haha! Watch out for the blink and you'll miss participation of Monjam and never mind the chuwariwap guy! (Video is courtesy of Rose.)



I will post my own performance video when I get the guts. LOL! :)

L-O-S-E-R

Danni won Survivor: Guatemala.

The Linzes won The Amazing Race Family Edition.

Nene was the big winner in Pinoy Big Brother.

I'm losing my favorite game. SUCKS!

Ultraelectromagneticfun!

I forgot to tell you about November 29. It was definitely a fun night for my friend Yam and I. We went to watch the concert launch of the tribute album to the Eraserheads. Got nervous for a while a day before when Yam text messaged me that Jams announced that the concert tickets are sold out already. Called the station right away and thankfully enough, there were still a few tickets to spare. Felt really excited on the night of the concert. While I had doubts over the selection of some artists in the tribute album, I just didn’t freaking’ care. The fact was, the Eheads magic would be relived and for a longtime Eheads fan like me, that was something to look forward to. :)

If you want to see my "la lang” review of the album and concert, click HERE. (I also posted the same review in Peyups.) A bit of warning, I wrote it while still on high after the concert so I’m not sure if you’ll get what I wrote. There are more sensible reviews after or before my post though, so you can still check it if you’re interested to know what the others have to say about Ultraelectromagneticjam.


The epitome of jologs - Yam and I posing at the concert venue's lobby. Notice how we were oh so proud to have the tickets! And notice how empty the lobby was! YES, WE WERE THAT EARLY! Haha!


Siyempre, hindi mawawala ang picture taking sa harap ng concert venue mismo! Haha!


Me and a very sugar high Ebe!


I love his pic with Yam more, though.


Does the moonlight shine on Paris! Yebah, Paolo!


Yes, I still am not a fan of 6cyclemind but it doesn't mean I'm no longer a camera whore when it comes to posing for pictures with celebrities. Haha!

Check out the new blog background song! It’s Imago’s cover of Eraserheads’ Spoliarium, my favorite Sticker Happy song and my favorite song from the tribute album. :)

Emman's Birthday

I’m back! Not that I went away or got busy with work. In fact I’m actually “beatlebum” these days – no work, all lazing around. After 2 weeks of not planning any thing though (carpe diem, ah the best!), finally sat down last night to lay down the plans. That’s why I’m here! Because I put “write blog” in my list of things to do today. Hehe.

I think I’m going to blog about Emman’s birthday first. Man, that was fun! I think I’m officially an artist groupie now. I have a housemate who’s bound for Sundance. I hosted a birthday salo-salo for a Cinemalaya director, that’s Emman of Sarong Banggi for you. I was group mates in Taboo (the board game) with the directors of Cinemalaya’s crowd pleaser Big Time (Mario Cornejo and Monster Jimenez) and the director of another entry Isnats (Mike Dagnalan). Haha! Okay I’m a geek. I’m delirious that I got to play Taboo with today’s promising young filmmakers.

Taboo’s groovy too! We finished playing the first round past midnight already and even opted for a second round that lasted till six o’clock in the morning. Those, while an Omen marathon (from the orig to part 4) is playing in the background. Haha!


The banderitas are courtesy of Monjam. Haha!


My team ready to "potpot" the clue giver of the other team


The other team ready to "potpot" our clue giver


Olive giving clues to her team, while my teammate Jade is getting ready to "potpot" her. Hehe!


Clang, the scorer, sleepy already. The game's 1st to 100. Haha!

Morning after and Emman was still restless. He took some happy artsy fartsy pictures of me, Rose and Monjam at the front and back of our apartment. I’m sharing with you my favorite pics. Hehe. I’m a narcissistic geek, okay.

Solo shots...





Rose and I...





Rose and Monjam...(the new loveteam?!? :D)



Rose and Emman, the birthday boy (yebah!)



What’s more groovy is that Clang, editor of Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, happens to be a big Eraserheads fan like me. He’s friends with Marcus Adoro and he’s got some interesting Eheads tales to tell. After the juicy stories that he shared, I shall never listen to Eraserheads “Spoliarium” and “Kananete” the same way again. Party ended at 10am.

P.S. Hope you can hear the song in the sidebar. It’s my favorite Sponge Cola song in their Palabas album. I’m hosted by Ripway and they have a maximum number of downloads per day so there’ll be times when the song won’t play. Hopefully when my new web host finished setting up (Wink, wink, whoever you are! :D) I can already share another favorite song.

Nth Random Updates

1. Again, reminding everyone to support alternative cinema. Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros, an official entry to next year's Sundance Film Festival (yep!) and winner of countless local and international awards, will already have its theater run starting NOVEMBER 30. That's this coming Wednesday na po. It is written lang naman by my housemate (siyempre, proud housemate ako! :D) Michiko Yamamoto. You know you're already big time when you're the answer of a Game Ka Na Ba question right? Well last Friday sealed the deal for Michiko. She was the answer of a Game Ka Na Ba question. Unfortunately, no contestant answered the question right but still, SHE'S THE FREAKIN' ANSWER OF A GAME KA NA BA QUESTION!!! WOW! Again, watch Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros this Wednesday, November 30.

2. On the other side of cinema, (read: mainstream, baby!) Michiko's other housemates Waterfowl and I just finished writing I Love You Lucky (tentative title) for Star Cinema. Ito po yung pinagkaabalahan ko after Qpids, the teenybopper I was talking about. Hehe. I didn't want to blog about it first because you know how tentative everything is in maintream TV or cinema but since they're having their first shooting day today, siguro naman tuluy-tuloy na. Well sana, keeping my fingers crossed. Hehe. This comic lovestory will be directed by Wenn Deramas with Sandara Park and Joseph Bitangcol as leads. Providing supports are Pokwang, Eugene Domingo, Ang Pagdadalaga's JR Valentin and Qpids loveteams JILWYN and JARLA (Yey, CF! :D) Watch out for it next year!

3. We're hosting another house party tonight - our good friend Emman's birthday party, yihee! Kaso iniwan ako ng mga housemates ko. Hahahaha. Umuwi si Mich ng Bulacan at nawawala sa Rose. Good luck sa akin! Hehehehe :) Pero excited na ako sa party. Antagal ko nang di nakakita ng tao. Hahahaha! Sana, enjoy! :)

4. Watched Sugarfree's gig last night sa Klownz. STEG! :) Will definitely fight for the tickets of the ULTRAELECTROMAGNETICJAM concert this Tuesday sa UP. Imagine, Eheads music, Sponge Cola, Sugarfree, MYMP, Kitchie Nadal, Orange and Lemons and Barbie in one concert?!? That's ecstasy for me. Hahahaha. Panira lang yung Cueshe and 6cyclemind. (Sorry di ako big fan ng bands na yun!) Sana nga makakuha ako ng tickets para AYUZ! :)

The Sponge Show

Watched the Sponge Cola show last week at Dish, and dude, it was a blast! See, I’ve wanted to see them perform live. I’ve wanted to see any decent local band perform live actually. That had been my wish ever since I got myself busy with work. The last time I went to a band concert was still in 2000 when Byron had his birthday celebration in 70’s Bistro during its Beatles Night. No, wait, it was during UP Fair 2001 when Gen and I got lost in the moshpit during Parokya Ni Edgar’s performance. Correction again, the last time was when Mich Dulce invited me to her 2003 bohemian burgis birthday party where local indie bands including Monsterbot played for her. Doh, how could I forget last February’s UP Fair! Mira and I went and were able to catch Kjwan and a few other bands. But see, those last times weren’t really because I planned to see the bands perform. The Sponge Cola case was different. I really wanted to see them perform. The minute I found out they’ll be performing near my work place, I knew I'd go there to see them perform even if I will watch the show alone!

Okay, I admit, I’m a fan. They just stand out for me from all the other similar sounding pop local bands whose songs have sappy lyrics and simplistic arrangements. Not that Sponge Cola is that excellent. They’re simply good and I know they’ll get better. I’m a fan because I like their sound. I describe their sound as a cross between early 90’s Radiohead and Bush. Their song arrangements are unpredictable yet familiar. The lyrics are poetic without being artsy fartsy (Hello, Dicta License!) I also would kill to have Yael’s raspy-good voice. Sponge Cola, together with Sugarfree, are my two favorite mainstream local bands at the moment. Their current albums (Palabas and Dramachine respectively) will be classics, I predict, and I dare you to buy them if you still don’t have copies. Hindi nga ako fan, heh! :)

Like I wrote, their show was a blast! They played most of the songs from their first album including my favorites Neon and Jeepney. They also played two new untitled tracks. Fans were delirious when they played their ubiquitous cover of Madonna’s Crazy For You plus covers of Gin Blossom’s Til I Hear It From You and Eraserheads’ Pare Ko. (Incidentally, an Eraserheads tribute album will be released next month with local bands covering their classics. Yes, Sponge Cola is part of the album and Pare Ko is their contribution). My only gripes maybe are that I think I’d have enjoyed myself more if I was watching it with a fan (I dragged non-fan Monjam with me so I won’t appear that pathetic) and if I was able to scream and headbang to their loud songs (Dish crowd was a bit stiff. I belong to the jologs moshpit crowd. Haha!)

To cap my crazed fan persona that night, I had my Palabas CD signed by them after the show. They told me I’m astig and all that while signing their autograph. I told them I’m just jologs. Heh!

Happy New Hair

I did it, ugh! Finally had my hair colored. I’m not a fan of artificial hair colors but the parlorista (haha) convinced me so well that a lighter shade would look better on me. Being a person who has difficulty in saying no, I hesitantly gave in.

It’s not the first time. 5 years ago, I attempted to dye my hair blue. While I was never a fan of Savage Garden, I envied Darren Hayes blue hair in that music video of a song I can’t even remember now. I wanted that blue hair! Problem was, I didn’t have the guts to go to a parlor to say so. Wait, I did go to a parlor one time, but they didn’t have the blue color! My co-researcher Byron (yep, the Byron of Cinemanila’s Baryoke fame) found out about my obsession and volunteered to dye my hair. I became ecstatic and excited. Alas Byron is hetero after all, the result was disastrous. Instead of having blue hair, I had sun-bleached blonde. It was laughable.

My hair color right now is not blue. I actually don’t know what color it is. (Embarrassingly, my color vocabulary is limited to primary colors). But I think I like my new hair. Next time though (well, I hope I’ll have the guts), I will go for the blue color! Yes, 5 years have passed and I’m still obsessed about it. LOL!

Hair before


Hair after (heh!)


Gad, this entry is so hollow!

Laugh Till You Drop

The day after the infamous Halloween house party, I met with my high school friends in Robinson's Ermita. Only three of us came which kinda sucked, but that didn't dampen our childlike, er, childish mood. The result, this video... (LOL! :D)

Halloween 2005

I again spoke too soon. I did attend a Halloween Party during the long weekend. Only, it’s our own party. Haha! Yes geeks, if you want to go to a party but you’re not invited to one, then host a party! Like what we did! :) It was Monjam’s idea, actually. He was probably inspired by the success of last month’s house party that he shoved the idea to my and my housemates’ faces. “Why not just hold a Halloween shindig in your apartment rather than go to Malate like we always do during Halloween?” “Why not just play board games in your apartment or have a film marathon of scary movies?” “And most importantly, why don’t we invite non-common friends so we can meet new friends or if luck is on our side, prospective lovers?” Haha! :) Why not!

Last Sunday’s house party started a bit shaky, though. It was raining hard in the afternoon so most of the invited guests made some last minute cancellations. I also wasn’t able to borrow a party board game because my former workmate who owned the board game totally forgot about it. In other words, the party was a disaster in the making. Only 13 guests came, some of them were people whom I met for the first time, and we all didn’t have a clue what to do or what will happen next. Good thing our instinct told us to just throw in some beer, innovate a parlor game to break the ice, and you’d have people in party mode already. Work friend Emman also did a good job in making the new faces feel comfy. My HS classmate Lawrence who came in late brought Cranium that continued the geeky party mode. Last of the guests left at six o’clock the following day. The party was a success! :)

Postscript: Emman told me what we did could be a concept to a new version of speed dating. I laughed of course, not taking him seriously. It’s only until a day later when I realized Emman could be right when two of the guests who just met during the party hooked up. My lips are sealed sometimes. Hehe. :)