October in a Nutshell

Let's see what October had brought me.

• Found out that the record of my singing when I was a child was lost (maybe erased) on the tape.

Just a little back story: Dad was fond of recording music/voice on tape. He was able to record my a bit of my of singing wooden heart. Sayang, I wanted to record it on phone or convert it to mp3.  I hope we can retrieve it again.

• Was able to find Cd's I've burned when I was still in 1st year high school. they are consist of M2M's two albums, an album of Mandy Moore and another one by Blue. So glad to find out that they're still working except for Blue.
• Attended a Karma, Reincarnation and Soulmates seminar with sis. Thanks Dad for sponsoring.
• Done with Fringe Season 2 finally.
• Watched a back-to-back Hayao Miyazaki films.
• Borrowed a vintage Polaroid camera. Will used as a prop for a future shoot.
• Was supposed to go to the cemetery with my family and Lola. We're already in front of the cemetery when Lola had a stroke (it was her third) and we witnessed it firsthand. It was a scary experience but she was doing fine now. Thank God. 
• Was supposed to attend 10th Eternal Death Wake Anniversary for the Halloween but we simply can't. So we just compensated by visiting the National Museum while it still had free entrance.

Hayao Miyazaki Back-to-Back

My cousins and I watched a back-to back Hayao Miyazaki films last week at CCP for free. I already knew that there were two films showing on that day but we opted to watch the first one since we didn't know what the second one was. When we learned what it was, we decided to watch it as well (even though I already watched it on DVD).

This was supposed to be brief thoughts about the film, but I ended up making mini-movie reviews instead. Oh well. In a nutshell, both films have stunning visuals and superb details. They also have both female leads and most of all, they are equally entertaining (at least for kids and those who are kids at heart like me). 

 Sprited Away (2001)

Chihiro and her family are on their way to their new home when her father takes a wrong turn. They suddenly find themselves in a seemingly-abandoned theme park. What they don't know is when the night falls, this place transforms into something beyond their imagination.

I find it a bit fast-paced in the beginning. Some scenes also lack the right establishments. Sometimes, the background music is overlapping with the dialogue. However, what I like about this is that, it has a clear plot. Also, the special effects are surely to blow you away.

My Neighbor Totoro (1988)

The Kusakabe family are happily living in their new home in the country side. Unbeknownst to them, they also have whimsical creatures for neighbors, including Totoro, a furry bear-like giant.

This one is set in 1958 and centers more on family. Unlike the first one, it is slow-paced and has a vague plot. I'm sorry, I know this has a lot of fans and all that but that's what I truly feel about it. On the other hand, the characters are way memorable. Who wouldn't be delighted to see Totoro and his cuddly friends especially that furry cat bus. Let's also not forget Mai's funny antics. It also has a cute opening credits (SA has a very brief one). Moreover, it has a good soundtrack.

Overall, each film has its own strengths and weaknesses but again, both are just entertaining. Kids will surely love them. Indeed, it's a well-spent day for us.

*All images are linked-back to their own respective websites. I do not own any of them.

Mornings are Beginnings

Last Saturday was a fateful one.

I learned to look life on a new perspective. 

I had free myself from grudges.

I was able to clear the blur, yet I still feel tremendously lost in it. I hope when the right time comes, everything will be clear. Perhaps even clearer.

Certain things will never be the same again.

September Report

This month was okay. Nothing too fancy but much better than August. Let's find find out why:

• Finally done with the voter's registration and it only took 15 minutes to finish. Thanks to the easy, breezy, (beautiful cover girl) processing of COMELEC in Las Piñas City. Was also able to purchase some mail stamps to add to my sister's and I growing stamp collection. Talk about philately.
• Helped my cousin with his abstract painting that also served as my first attempt working on that field. The result? Let's just say I'm not happy with it.
• Sis and I visited Heroes, an art exhibit by the late Tony de Zuñiga. His works are just awesome. It's just sad that cameras are not allowed inside. The only photos I got was the exhibit's poster and some of his works (outside the gallery) which I took when I watched Cinemalaya last July. Also had a glimpse of The Phantom of the Opera exhibit. I hope I could watch the show itself this month. After that, we headed to the bookstore and meet up with Dad who just finished his bowling tournament with his colleagues. Sadly, they didn't win. 
• Discovered a film called Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus and it was instantly added on my list of  my favorite films.
• We also had a yellow love bird as our one night only guest. A neighbor asked us to keep it for the night because he couldn't go home that night. Since we don't have a cage, we put it inside Suerte's (my kitten) house. Suerte was pretty upset when she saw the bird. As a result (and maybe as her form of disapproval), she didn't use her litter box for two days. What a kitten!
• Started my job hunting and I've been targeting a certain gov't. office. I hope everything will fall into place.
• So glad that Different Sunday is back! It's a six-hour radio show aired every Sunday at Jam 88.3. It plays covers, versions and everything in between (as it says on their FB page). I discovered  it last month and enjoyed their awesome, relaxing, and nostalgic playlist. Another good thing about it is that, it has few commercials, if not none at all. Though there are stingers played on almost every song, these are very quick. Later on, I found out that it was the show's last episode on the day I discovered it. So I was very excited to know it's back on a new time slot (6pm- midnight) and new set of stingers.
• Last day of the month was supposed to be spent on Cosplay Mania '12 on the very last minute but changed my mind he very last minute. Talk about fickle mindedness.  The rest of the night was spent listening to Different Sunday.

P.S. Since the Ber months are here, I accompanied this post with a bokeh shot of Christmas lights (taken from here), signalling the Holidays. Ciao Guys! :D

Favorite MVs (the recent ones)

Hi!  As promised I'm back with my top 5 recent fave MVs. Enjoy!

I've always love the concept of a lost love and the 70's/80's lifestyle (times which I always thought a good time to live) and this is a good mix of the two. It has a good narrative and good art direction as well. A very sentimental song especially  if you can relate to it. In fact, I made a blog post about it. 

A romantic MV with an eyegasmic lighting. I love the song as well.

What I called the stalker music video that has an interesting twist at the end. I can pretty relate to it for I'm also stalker...an online one at least.

I love its concept of you and me against the world plus the lovers' self-destructive behavior. Good lyrics as well. I also like its retro-ish feel and style of editing. 

A heart crushing song +  a lonesome  and seemingly dark atmosphere = A favorite MV of all time

Not-So-Kind August

I'm not in the mood for introductions right now so let's get going.

• Enjoyed watching the recent Olympics and found myself cheering for Russia most of the time. Not that I didn't support our country. It's just that the sports I look forward to (such as Synchronized Swimming and Gymnastics) every Olympics didn't have a Philippine representative.
• My family was lucky that the flood didn't fully enter the house during Habagat but the rainy season had left us with damp stuffs due to dripping ceilings. This led us to have some sort of general cleaning that also led me to find things I thought I lost and things I didn't know I posses in the first place. I was also surprised to realize that I've been hiding a lot of coins all over the house. I think I found more than a hundred pesos all in all. Haha.
• I promise myself to watch every Academy Awards Best Picture nominee that I will encounter. This month I was able to watch Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011) directed by Stephen Daldry. Good story and good plot. I love Oskar Schell's character (played by Thomas Horn). I think   Horn is someone to watch out for. In fact, he has won twice in Phoenix Film Critics Society for Breakthrough Performance on Camera and Best Performance by a Youth in a Lead or Supporting Role - Male. My next stop would be Inglorious Bastards.
• Made sure that I've accomplished certain things before I resume my job hunting (haven't been able to do it due to bad weather). I've also cut my hair as if that matters.

Here are the not-so-kind parts:

• For days, I've been depressed for I was blaming myself for a loss of a guinea pig and death of a kitten and I wasn't even responsible for those things. It's just that I kept on thinking the might have beens. If it was an ideal situation, I could have saved and adopted them.
• After that phase, another one followed. This time I was faced with an old enemy of mine and it's none other than my self. I was consumed by self-loathing, shame, disappointments, frustrations and the like. Not to mention a series of painful memories came crashing down. Basically, I was miserable but I'm doing good now. I'm get used to this phase but it's still difficult every time. Ahh, my vicious mental and emotional cycle.
• And guess what? My insomnia has gotten worse. I always woke every afternoon. Damn it! I'll make sure I'll fix that soon.

I hope September would be kinder. 

I realized the photos I'm posting for the previous months are way irrelevant for my posts. Anyway, the one above was taken from my Flicker.

Favorite MVs (the old ones)

I've been thinking of what to blog without recycling my old photos until I thought of music videos. So today I will post my top 5 fave music videos. I decided to divide them from my old faves to the recent ones (which I will post some other time). So here are the old ones. Enjoy!

Cry Me A River - Justin Timberlake
Apparently some kind of a stalker video. This is also one of my favorite JT's songs. I've always like the idea of sneaking around. Haha. Reminds me that we should always lock our doors because we never really know. Better yet, if money is not an issue, install a CCTV camera.

Forever - The Veronicas

There is also an Australlian MV with the Pop version of the song but I prefer this American version with a rock-ish rendition of the song. I love you Jessica (the blonde one)! This video satisfies the rebel in me. Mom, can I atend a party like this? Haha.

Paralyzer - Finger Eleven

A thought provoking song with a choreography which I'll never get tired of watching. It's nice to see the dancers performing with those generic office attires.

White Flag - Dido
A classic favorite. Though you can apply the song lyrics to the video itself, it tells me otherwise: that they are stalking each other without them knowing. :) It also stars David Boreanaz (the actor who played Special FBI Agent Seely Booth in my favorite crime series, Bones).

And my top favorite music video is ....

Frozen - Madonna
This is also my most favorite MV of hers. The video is just LOVE. From the concept to the special effects to her costume and make-up (a definite peg for future costume party). Did I mention I'm in love with her Mehndi? 


I started thinking that since I've posted about MVs, I might as well post my local, gothic, jrock/jpop, krock/kpop videos some other time. I hope you'll watch out for those. :)

What's Up July?

Yes, I'm back after eons of inactivity! And I do apologize for that. Anyway, this is my supposed-to-be photo diary so you probably know the drill so let's past the intro, shall we?

• Months ago. I've mentioned that I've been preparing for something. Now is the time for the reveal: me and sis took the Civil Service Exam (CSE) Professional Level and we've been busy reviewing for it. The outcome? We're so glad that we passed ... even though we're literally sleepless on the exam day itself (hello insomnia!). Thank you Dad for making us drink Bacchus that kept us awake the whole time and helped us answer the questions the best way that we could. Thanks also for fetching us and patiently waiting for us until the exam was over. Ultimately, thank you for your support. :)
• Done my annual tradition of religiously watching Eiga Sai for the 5th year. Watched seven movies in all. Might watch the remaining three in UPD.
• Also done another annual tradition of mine of watching Cinemalaya for the 6th year. Watched only two films because I was broke. Moreover, I saw one of my favorite local writers, Ricky Lee. Yay! A lot of good things happened during my attendance. More of those on a separate post. I promise!
• Read a novel called The Gods and their Machines.  A sci-fi fantasy by Oisin Mcgann. I've been into a lot of self-help books for over a yaer so it's refreshing to read novels again. Anyway, the book is an interesting read but it left me hanging in the end (I demand part 2). Also, still reading The Red Dragon by Thomas Harris.
• Finally had a telescope, a sky and land telescope to be exact. I tell you what, sis and I have been wanting to own one for the longest time. Now all that is left to do is familiarize ourselves with it (it's kinda tricky) to be legit sky voyeurs.
• Bought myself a black pre-loved creepers for only a hundred pesos. It's a major steal baby! 
• Had improved my sleep by 20%. I kinow that's barely an improvement but I'll definitely fix myself soon.

That would be all. See you guys at my August updates. :)

Photo above was taken from my post here.

Excerpts of June: A (Still Supposedly) Photo Diary

Everything comes in threes is what they say, so here is my third (supposedly) photo diary. I don't know how long this will last but I hope it will end soon. I terribly miss post-processing. Though I started film photography, I still shoot in digital sometimes but I can no longer do that because all my memory cards are full. :( Anyway, the highlights are:

• joined  the Free Heritage Postal Tour.
• had been introduced to the interesting world of Philately.
• read a book about Vatican City that has mind blowing artworks and photos!
• been mentioned by Valerie Chua on her tweet. she also replied to my tweet to her *u* (yes, I'm mababaw like that). our conversation was about how I love her voice and her original composition.
• found a two-day-old kitten and as an ailurophile, I adopted her and named her Suerte.
• went to a job fair and it reminded me of anime/cosplay conventions in terms of filling out forms and getting freebies. haha!
• started watching Fringe season 2. finally!
• been featured by Dani of Awesome in Manila. hooray!

And that would be all. Thank you!

Photo above is one of my old photos found on my Flicker.

Tips for Watching Eiga Sai 2012

This is my 5th year of attending Eiga Sai and today I'll give you guys comprehensive tips (lol) on how to maximize your attendance. These will be very helpful especially if this is your first time attending.

But before we move on, please be reminded that these tips only apply if you're watching Eiga Sai (and maybe some other free film festivals) at Shang Cineplex. Also, these are based on my experience watching it at Shang in the last three years (my first was at CCP) so changes might occur this year. But I hope this still helps. Let's start, shall we?

3rd Sunday of June + Blog Feature

Howdy! Just dropping by for some quick updates for this month.

Nexxa, Pia (a cousin) and I joined the Free Heritage Postal Tour last June17. This tour is held every third Sunday of the month and is conducted by Mr. Lawrence Chan of Filipinas Stamp Collectors’ Club and some other sponsors. If you're wondering what the tour is all about, you might want to check this blog. Only, we didn't make it inside Metropolitan Theater due to permit issues so the tour just headed to the historical Escolta street. We also had an introduction to Philately which we was pretty interesting. Oh, that was a good trip. So excited to post photos but I'll do that later on just because. Anyway, some group photos are this and this (find me). If you want to join the trip (there's a tentative schedule on July 15, 2012), do check their Facebook page.

Also, I've been featured by Dani, a friend/former classmate/fellow blogger, on her awesome blog, Awesome in Manila. This was the first time so I'm really excited. Read the whole feature here. So that would be all for now.

By the way, I might also give tips on watching Eiga Sai on my next post. So do look forward to it. :)

I'm Not Dead: My (Supposedly) May Photodiary

Warning: Lengthy post ahead to make up for not updating regularly.

May has already ended and the rainy season officially started on this side of the world. Some probably won't agree but I prefer this season over summer, not to mention scorching, season we had weeks ago. 

So, how's everyone? As for me, I'm excited to go back to school though that certain time of my life was over. I miss school especially college. That's certainly one of the best years of my life until graduation came and everyone's busy growing up and making a living while I'm left rusting. But this rusting phase will certainly be over soon for I'm ready to start and ready to fight. Ahh, enough of this emoness. Let's check May's highlights.

• done preparing for that something and I hope everything falls into place.
• stopped my picture diary for a while but hopefully I'll come back to it again this June.
• visited a Korean store and got some awesome loot.
• started watching Grimm.
• done watching Prison Break Season 2.
• also watched The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo (US version). Though I still prefer the original film, I'm more attracted to Lisbeth Salander (played by Rooney Mara) on this one.
• been bitten by a dog and the best part of it is injections. Three in a row. Haha.
• started shooting on film only to find out that the film wasn't placed properly. So yeah, back to square one.
• finally got a pottermore account. Yay!
• still in the process of fixing my screwed up sleeping pattern.

EDIT: I watched the original version of The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo again and I still prefer it only I realized that I have equal attraction to Noomi Rapace and Rooney Mara who both played Lisbeth Salander.

Lastly, this blog will be on hiatus mode again. Yes, for the nth time. Our computer is still dead and without it, I can't take photos since it's the only place I store and post-process them. If your suggesting computer shop? I'm sorry but I won't take the risk of having viruses on any of my files. But, I'll shoot again on film starting this month so let's see where it would lead to. Okay? I might be back by the end of June. See you again. Tata for now.  :)

PS: The photo above is one of the photos I took last year. You can also view some of them on my Tumblr and Flicker.

The Doll’s House

These were featured in Vogue Korea last December 2011 and  were photographed by the famous Korean photographer Cho Sunhee. It also features Sooyoung and Tiffany of SNSD. It also includes Kim Wonjoong as the male model. 

The photos are just utterly amazing. The concept, styling, photography and art direction are absolute love. And what I so love about them is that Sooyoung, my most favorite SNSD member, is on them. I've been meaning to post these lovely photos months ago but they keep slipping my mind. But better late than never, right? So there. I hope you enjoy viewing them as much as I do. :)


Photos taken from here.

April Photo(less) Diary

As the title suggests, this is a photo less photo diary but I can assure you guys that there's a handful of photos waiting to be post-processed and I do promise to post them as soon as the computer's fixed. Actually, I expected that would be able to post at least twice a week for this month (thanks to queue settings) despite the fact that I'm mostly staying at home this summer season. But due to our computer's "death", I simply can't.

Anyway, I still see to it that I can go online at least once a week (hello computer shop!), so here I am. The computer's "death" won't stop me from updating, right? And since this is a photo less post, here are April's happenings in bullets.

• been preparing for a really important stuff. might reveal it around June or July.
• went to the Arcade with Sis and a cousin.
• started a picture diary (this is mainly composed of doodles of each day's highlights)
• got myself an underwater camera, two tumblers and a black lipstick
• Dad gave me a brown malong. 
• he also bought Pingkoy, a pink Easter monkey. Dad is the one responsible for his name. it's the combination of the words pink + unggoy (monkey). honestly,  it's meant for my three-year-old niece but it's way too cute that I told her that it was Dad's birthday present for me. hehe.
• had a mocha cake for my 23rd birthday. also had a milk tea, some cookies and sweets.
• sleep, sleep and sleep.
• watched some movies I already watched.

So that's basically April is all about. To make up for the missing photos, here's a video of one of my favorite Japanese musicians, Mika Nakashima.

Quick Updates and Hello 23!

Some of you are probably enjoying the much-deserved summer break. As for me, I am staying at home for the rest of summer. Yes, this is my kind of life every summer. But I'm pretty used to it. Just went out tonight to do an obligatory birthday post. Talk about hikikomori life. Haha. But I'm busy doing something else. I'll just reveal it when I reveal it (what? lol). 


By the way, I tweeted last week that our computer's dead (again) and it happened just when I'm about to post my blog posts on queue. Tough luck, huh? Hence, the reason why I couldn't update as much as I want to. I'm actually blogging in the computer shop right now and this is the first time. I also want to post photos but I  am yet to post-process them at home. Ugh, when am I able to maintain to post at least once a week? I really hope our computer will be fixed asap.


I also turned 23 today. How time flies? Nothing special really. I don't usually celebrate my birthday. Just a normal day with my family. But some milk tea, cookies and sweets won't hurt. Hohoho!  * u * 
For now, I'll leave you with the latest music videos from one of my favorite K-pop and K-rock groups. Enjoy!

March Photodiary

March Haul

Hello guys! Today, I’ll show you my recent acquisitions for this month. Unlike most recent acquisitions/haul post, my haul is mostly composed of books and random whatnot.

An Afternoon at Logos Hope

Random Things

I was supposed to make my recent blog post until I saw Dani's blog. I haven’t done something like this before so I gave it a try. Hmm, let’s see.

1. If you had the chance to go back in time for 24 hours, where and when would you go?

I would go back to the time when I’m deciding on what course to take up in college. Because right now, I realized that I should’ve taken a more Art-related course or Anthropology perhaps.

2. If you were on death row, what would your last meal be?

My favorite champorado. Yum!

3. Would you break the law to save a loved one?

If that’s my last resort, hell yes.

4. Do you remember a time when you were extremely upset? Does it still matter now?

I haven’t been extremely upset, at least not yet but I always get upset why some people become so extremely selfish.

5. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?

I don’t really care if others will judge me or not. They can say what they want. What’s more important to me is how I look at myself. Thank you.

February Photodiary

The One that Got Away

I was supposed to post this last Valentine’s but I didn’t get online that day. Anyway, I still decided to post this even if it’s rather late.  

This post is in reference to Katy Perry’s song that talks about a lost love. Just like the song, I also had someone that got away, only it wasn’t a lover. It’s an adorable kitten.

Inspiration Mondays: Eleanor Hardwick

Would you believe that these photos were taken by a 16 year-old? Well, believe it or not, they are. The 16 year-old (she was 16 when some of these were taken, she is now 18) photography wonder is Eleanor Hardwick. At a young age, both her personal and commercial works were published in the likes of Vouge, 125 and Independent. 

I found out about her when I stumbled upon her interview on Digital Photographer magazine. Her photos are quite stunning so I searched for her on the net and I was blown away. Her photos give me this certain feeling of nostalgia and sometimes some sort of surreal imagery. According to her interview, though most of her photos have a fashion-based approach, she likes her photos to tell a story. She said that what she tried to suggest in her images is a unison between realism and something more ethereal. 

Man, I’m definitely digging her style. I also like the fact that her equipment is not limited to DSLR, for she also uses analog and disposable cameras. She is nothing but quite inspiring. Looking at her photos make me want to grab my Zephyr and shoot right away in this very moment. I hope she inspires you too. :) Her official website here and flicker here.

Ninja, Voyeur or Insurgent?

That is M, my sleeping buddy. I bought him (I’d like to think he is male) over a year now from a thrift shop near our place for only 50 php and we’re stuck like glue ever since.  If he looks familiar, that is because he is one of Totoro’s friends in the anime movie, My Neighbor, Totoro. 

Anyway, I got him washed couple of days back and to my horror, his ears started to become floppy.  Apparently, my trusty buddy is showing signs of wear and tear. In fact, he had his ears stitched months ago. Good thing Mom put him inside a pillowcase to avoid further damage. Too bad, I can’t see his entire cuteness anymore. But at least, it’s less depressing to see him. Now he looks like a ninja or even a voyeur or an insurgent. Nah, he’s too cute for those, what do you think?