Wednesday, April 30, 2008

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

I just read an e-mail from Manong Boboy. Last time he got in touch, he was asking me if I would like some CDs or books. Siyempre, ako pa ang aayaw sa offer ni banker? hehehe

So in my reply I enumerated all the titles of the Smashing Pumpkins and Enya CDs ever produced hahaha I was thinking it would be easier to acquire them in the US...

Today's email from manong went like this:

got your cd's---- gish, pisces iscariot, adore, machina: the machines of god and siamese dreams. ..mayo lang ginhatag sang chicks and siamese dreams sa akon kay last piece na lang... tanan sila nga album wala na stocks... ang damo stocks ang double cd nga gin bakal ko sa imo sang 2002

even before I could finish reading the whole message I was going "YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" (silently of course...karon mabulabog ang boarding house ) hahahaha

My God...I feel SO happy right now! Thanks so much nong!

MORE GOOD NEWS! The Smashing Pumpkins just got inducted in the Rock Walk of Fame last April 23. On hand were Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin to receive the honor and leave their hand imprints for posterity. Pity that former bandmates James Iha and D'arcy weren't around para sana reunion...when will you guys be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? Maybe by that time you'll have the sense to reunite even if for a brief albeit shining moment bwahahahaha



I envy the guy who took this vid...lucky f*cker! hahaha





Long Live The Smashing Pumpkins!

Ode to A Blog Post

I haven't written a decent poem in ages...so pasensya if this comes out a bit weird or weirdly amateurish hehe...anyway, just an attempt to add something to this blog that hasn't been tried before...

Ode to A Blog Post

nimble fingers travel quickly
on the keyboard
late at night
the quick incessant tapping
the earnestness to capture
thoughts before they are lost
in a swarm of incoherent memories
he is alone -- inspiration is his only friend
that, and the lone search engine
spouting avenues for discovery

...catharsis...

this silent voice has found a place

now pondering, now searching
words to bare his soul
wondering if all these words
would be just a whisper
in this vast, electronic void

but still his fingers do not cease
...this perpetual machine...

this loneliness is an engine
this brain is numb with ideas
spilling over, seeking release

and so

these nimble fingers
have a life of their own it seems
never ceasing
never failing
as long as there is that drive

...catharsis...

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Retro Music Trip Tayo!

Here are four music vids that I'm sure you haven't seen by artists I'm sure you haven't heard of...songs from the 70's and the 80's and early 90's...those were times when artists seem a little weird and bands seem a little gay hehe...

1. "Wuthering Heights" by Kate Bush. I actually can't figure out how to react to this song hahaha I wouldn't be surprised if she influenced Tori Amos in some way hehe



2. "Shock the Monkey" by Peter Gabriel. IMHO one of the most original musicians ever...



3. "Come Undone" by Duran Duran. I actually know the lyrics to this song and I have the cassette tape of their "Wedding Album" at home, hatag ni Nong Rommel...



4. "Walking in My Shoes" by Depeche Mode. I remember when MTV Live featured their performance, I was literally glued to the TV set. Then they started playing "Enjoy the Silence" and I was literally going "Wohoooooooo!" hahahaha. Can't find the original mix of the song, this one's a remix...



This blog should've been a music blog I think...

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Incomprehensible?

A lot of interest has been expressed over a certain shirt I often wear this week. Unfortunately, indi ang gasuksok ang pinagnanasaan nila haha but what gets the eye of the passersby or the people who happened to be on my path is the text printed on it:

IRAQ IS
BIGGER
THAN
A STONE
IRAN IS
FASTER
THAN
A WALK
EGYPT IS
SMALLER
THAN
A TRUCK

Gets nyo?

.....


Though the bold letters catches the eye of the person, the text often elicits varied responses.

Yung iba gets yung humor ng text, yung iba hindi...

If, unfortunately, you are the latter do not despair...even people in UP cannot fathom the seemingly cryptic message printed on my shirt right away. This has been an on and off phenomenon for me and most of the time I had to explain the hermeneutics and linguistics behind my shirt...so much for humor...and a quick wit for that matter...

BUT, everything changed today...

The people I've met -- and those who have noticed the shirt -- seem to instantaneously grasp the logic (or lack of it) behind the words. Plus, they weren't shy to express their interest to me.

First incident of this happening was on the Pantranco jeepney I was riding after I went to Sunday mass this morning. A lady called my attention and asked me:

"What's the rest of the words on your shirt?"

It so happened that the bottom part of my shirt was obscured by my backpack. (same old backpack) When I showed the remaining text...she laughed out loud and said:

"That's funny!"

STRIKE! (Kung si Lavi pa sa D Gray Man haha)

Second incident happened around 6 PM at the DVD and used books store at the SC. The Kuya who was tending the shop showed interest on my shirt and called another student's attention to it. Both were pleasantly amused and Kuya inquired as to its provenance. I told them na binili ko lang yung t-shirt. Kuya commented on the novelty of the shirt hehe...

Three strikes in one day! There are still quick-witted beings here in UP and a shirt is enough to reveal them! hahaha

While I was in the store, I bought two DVDs and Kuya remarked that one of the DVDs I bought seemed to coincide with my shirt...

Ano ba ang biniling DVD ni ditch?

1. Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society

2. Akira Kurosawa's "RAN"

Gets nyo?

Texas

stumbled across this on the internet, the rest is history hahaha...dedicated to Rona.

1. "In Demand" -- Sharlene and Professor Snape (Alan Rickman gale)



2. "Halo"



3. "Summer Sun" -- or is it "Son"? Panamit di si Sharlene hahaha



4. And of course, ang walang kamatayang "Say What You Want"

WTF?

This seems a bit uncharacteristic of me...but I'm loving David Cook's rendition of "Always Be my Baby"

Yeah...even I'm having goosebumps...if you young 'uns first heard of this song from SeƱor Cook, then I count you lucky. We had to suffer through Mariah Carey's version. Though in all fairness, this song was released when Mariah Carey was still relatively a good performer hehe

I also heard the full version of Cook's rendition of the song and boy is it GOOD!

Here's the actual "American Idol" performance...



Cook had even peformed a song by the band "Our Lady Peace" during the competition. Oh, anong say niyo? Kilala niyo ba ang Our Lady Peace? hahaha That's why I'll root for this guy...mananalo ka! hahaha

Friday, April 25, 2008

A Filipino Historian, A Japanese Anime, and A German Band

Think multi-tasking and you'll figure out the meaning of the title...

I'm on my second day of reading "An Introduction to Philippine History" by Jose S. Arcilla, S.J. Actually I already had the book back home -- having bought it a year after graduation. I didn't expect that this book would be required reading for our Kas 297 course. One of the requirements for the course is a paper analyzing one of the history textbooks listed in our syllabus. As luck would have it, I was assigned to read Arcilla's book. Unfortunately, my book was back at home sheltered behind the glass panels of my bookcase...

A search of the holdings at UP Main Lib turned up unsuccessful as I was assigned the 2003 edition. THe book, in fact, had four editions and was first published during the 1970's. The library only had the editions until 1994 in their stocks. tsk, tsk...

So, no choice...I went book hunting among the bookstores at Trinoma and SM North. And it was in National Bookstore at SM North that I found a copy of Arcilla (better to refer to the author than the whole title. don't you think? hehe)

Having taken possession of Arcilla (and losing P200 in the process) I proceeded with my reading. I admit that when I bought Arcilla in Bacolod I only gave it a superficial reading -- more concerned with gaining facts from this slim volume. But now that I am assigned a more analytical reading of the book...I began to see a few things that I missed during my intial reading of the book.

All I have to say for now is that though history textbooks basically contain the same facts, there are some subtle -- and not so subtle -- difference between the history books written by different authors. The one I'm reading right now contains some stuff that I prefer left out in a history book hehe.

I remember a question posed by Doc Diokno during our lectures on postmodernism:

"Are you reading Philippine History, or are you reading Philippine History according to Agoncillo?"

Replace "Agoncillo" with "Constantino", "Zaide" (who gets a thorough beating during our discussions with Prof Teodoro), even "Arcilla" and you'll pretty much get the conceptual framework I'm working with while reading...

Now that's the Filipino Historian part of the blog post title...

The Japanese Anime part refers to the anime I am watching on Youtube right now. The title is "D Gray Man" and this is another interesting story of armies fighting out a centuries-old battle over the very fate of the world. The protagonists of this series are people known as "exorcists" blessed with the ability to harness the power of a substance or object called "innocence." I'm now viewing episode 63 and the story is quite engaging -- okay, I admit, astig ang action! hehe

The German Band I'm referring too is Rammstein. If you've viewed my post on Marilyn Manson, Rammstein was also blamed for inspiring the Columbine shooters to go on their killing spree. Their music, like Marilyn, is uh -- how do I put this? -- peculiar? hahaha If I were to take a second language course it would be either Japanese or German.

Now, combine them all together like the blog post title and you get...

Me reading a short chapter of Arcilla while listening to Rammstein, at the same time waiting for the D Gray Man episode to download. I've been doing this for about two hours now hehe...

BTW, this might be unrelated but I heard Trinoma Foodcourt FM playing "Ren" by Moonpools and Caterpillars hehe. I remembered this band, mostly composed of Filipinos (the vocalist I think is married to one of the band members), when they guested in a show called "MAD: Martin Late at Night" which was hosted by Martin Nievera. They were interviewed by Martin and one of the questions elicited a funny response from the lead vocalist of Moonpools...

Martin: "So your band is called Moonpools and Caterpillars? Why did you pick that name for your band?"

Kimi (the vocalist): "Because...we like it!"


Hahahahahaha! How cute naman the answer -- medyo may pagka-retarded nang konti... hehe

Okay, music video time!

1. "Mein Teil" by Rammstein. Disturbing imagery and explicit content (again?!) featured here. The actual story which inspired the song is even more disturbing..hehe



2. "Hear" by Moonpools and Caterpillars. Unfortunately no music video of "Ren" is available at Youtube. I'm wondering if a music video was indeed made of that song. But the important thing is that this band should not be forgotten -- naks! Pasensya sa poor sound quality...



3. D Gray Man Intro (Season 3)

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

WTF?!

Advisory: This post contains explicit material. Ba't puro explicit na yung mga posts ko ngayon?

I came across this list of the ten most annoying singers of all time...

http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/listoftheday/17793/the-ten-most-annoying-singers

guess who was number 3?




NOOOOOOOO! WHAT THE F*CK?!

The guy who wrote this article doesn't f******g know how to appreciate an artist such as billy corgan...

Who cares about your ideas? Who the hell are you to impose your own concept of who is or isn't a good singer?

And to call them annoying? How m*****f*****g arbitrary of you -- a*****e!

And to even place billy corgan on the THIRD spot? How dare you! Billy Corgan wouldn't give a rat's ass what you think of him. Thus I'll have to take the cudgels for him and whip your sorry ass! I'll stoop down to your m*****f*****g retarded level and murder your ass! I'll tear you apart and eat your f*****g heart you d******t! F*ck!

Billy Corgan is one of the greatest artists that ever lived! And any of you m*****f*****s disagree I'll have to f*****g shove my foot up your asses! I'll rip out your intestines and feed you to the f*****g sharks! F*ck you!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Hear, Hear!

Question: does listening to rock music result to acts of deviance and violence? This was an important debate a few years ago when the US was shocked by a violent incident in Columbine High School in Colorado. The event resulted to Americans trying to make sense of the violent episode. Fingers began pointing, and one unfortunate scapegoat was "shock" rocker Marilyn Manson. Here's Marilyn's response in Michael Moore's documentary "Bowling for Columbine."



I was impressed at how articulate Manson was in responding to the criticisms against him, though I'm not too sure about Michael Moore's objectivity here...

Anyway, let's pause for a while...

"Mr. Ditchella...hindi pwede yan..."

Note to self: Bawal mag-text sa klase ni Dr. Teodoro. hehehe

Monday, April 21, 2008

WTF?!

Robbie Williams doing a medley of "Take That" songs which were famous during the 90s. The only song I recognized was the third one entitled "Back For Good."

Boy Bands will forever remain an (unfortunate) product of the 90s. Though some made good ballads, their pop songs and matching music videos would be enough to make eyes roll in exasperation hehe

Robbie Williams later on went to make a solo career for himself away from his old boy band. Robbie going solo opened a whole new creative avenue for him -- his songs often are irreverent, self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek anthems that highlight his creative streak, among other things...



I'm not sure what to make of his rendition...it could be an homage to his Take That years or just a big musical version of Flipping the Middle Finger at that point of his career. And what of those sexual innuendos? Hmmmmm...

here's one of my fave songs and music video..."Rock DJ" by Robbie Williams. Explicit content!



gives new meaning to the term "striptease" doesn't it?

hahahaha post na di comments ang mga suya-an! You know who you are....

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Wait and See...

news from cyberspace...two anime classics are about to be remade into live action films





Some of the rumors spreading on the internet include Leonardo diCaprio starring in the live-action "Akira" while Steven Spielberg has acquired the rights to remake "Ghost in the Shell"...

Not too sure what to expect from these movies as it will be a very long time before they are to be released -- if they will be made at all. It will be a challenge to translate some of the philosophical concepts in these anime into mainstream live action. Just hope they don't make a mess of things...

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Super Maid?!

Thank you to Lenard for his blog post:

http://holding-on-still.blogspot.com/2008/04/fond-of-band-aid-solutions.html

Now I've had it with Mini-Me...instituting a course for domestic helpers? I could just imagine a parent telling his or her child:

"Hija/hijo kumuha ka na lang ng course na domestic helper. Sa hirap ng panahon ngayon kailangan nating kumita ng pera. Nakakalungkot isipin pero ganito ang tingin ng gobyerno sa atin, lalo na ng pandak nating pekeng pangulo: export products lang tayo para isalba ang bansa nating nalulugmok sa kahirapan dahil sa korupsyon at kapabayaan ng mga nasa pamahalaan. on the bright side, ituturing kayong 'Super Maid'! O di ba? parang 'Superman' or 'Super Inggo.' So anak, abandon your dreams of becoming a doctor, a lawyer, a painter, a sociologist, a film critic, an architect or whatever profession you've been dreaming of... Today's world is no place to fulfill your dreams..."

Punyeta.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Carnivale

the Natalie Merchant music vid got me thinking about carnivals. Then I remembered:

U2 also had a music vid which featured the carnival...con subtitulos en espaƱol...



And then this HBO series entitled "Carnivale." A dark, gloomy series which tackled the supernatural and gnostic hehe medyo malalim ang mga themes that the series tackled

pero astig ang intro...



Opening credits pa lang there are already a lot of symbols featured to make a history geek happy hehehe

Here's the series in a nutshell...



There are still a LOT of things going on aside from the good vs. evil plot. Pity the series was cancelled by HBO after just two seasons.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Landmark Trinoma FM

The landmark foodcourt located at Trinoma Malls has been my unofficial reading lounge. It's wide, spacious and most importantly -- airconditioned! hehe

Since the UP Main Lib has instituted a restrictive schedule I often find myself at my "alternate reading area" at Trinoma to escape the heat. So I was just there this afternoon and was reading through Braudel and his concepts of time, and having had enough of this French historian (hindi ko kinaya ang mga concepts nya hahaha, gingutom ko basa sa iya) I decided to check out the countless food stalls and see what's on their menus. As I was seating myself to gorge on what I had purchased, I was surprised to hear a familiar tune playing on the Landmark PA system...



Aside from the airconditioning, the music is one of the reasons why I keep coming back to the Foodcourt. Their playlist is quite good too...I would often catch myself singing along to their tunes while trying my earnest to make sense of a journal or book I fished out some obscure corner of the library...

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Panacea

medyo PG-15 ni ang vid...the perfect solution to ALL problems hehehehe

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Books to Buy (and Read) Before You Die

1. Animal Farm by George Orwell -- One question I had in mind when I finished the book: "Where the f*ck did Snowball go?" Animal Farm reads like a fable but the message that it puts across still rings true today. Originally intended as a satire attacking Russian Communism and how Stalinist Russia has "perverted" the ideals of socialism, Animal Farm still remains relevant for the striking parallels and symbolisms that Orwell draws into his tale of a socialist/"animalist" utopia gone bad.

2. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair -- today's bargain bookstore purchase for only 45 pesos. This classic work exposed the dark underbelly of the meat packing industry in America. This book literally shocked the living daylights out of US President Theodore Roosevelt that an investigation was ordered into the state of the meat industry which resulted into laws passed regulating the quality of meat processing in America. I am currently browsing through its pages and it is a fascinating read. Chapter 1 is a narrative of the life and struggles of the workers encapsulated within a wedding celebration. A bit Homeric in its approach as the book started en medias res and then works its way backwards in the succeeding chapters. So far I'm on chapter 4 and I was already treated to a whole chapter devoted to the butchering of livestock. Grabe! This is what I like about 19th century and early 20th century writers -- their writing is so rich in description that you literally get a feel of the environment described in the book. In this book's case, the smell of the meatpacking factories was richly described, as in this chapter describing our protagonist, Jurgis (pronounced Yoor-gis) and his fellow immigrants were first taken to the meat packing area -- the 'stockyards':

...And along with the thickening smoke they began to notice another circumstance, a strange, pungent, odor. They were not sure that it was unpleasant, this odor; some might have called it sickening, but their taste in odors was not developed, and they were only sure that it was curious. Now, sitting in the trolley car, they realized that they were on their way to the home of it -- that they had traveled all the way from Lithuania to it. It was now no longer something far off and faint, that you caught in whiffs; you could literally taste it, as well as smell it -- you could take hold of it, almost, and examine it at your leisure. They were divided in their opinions about it. It was an elemental odor, raw and crude; it was rich, almost rancid, sensual, and strong. There were some who drank it in as if it were an intoxicant; there were others who put their handkerchiefs to their faces. The new emigrants were still tasting it, lost in wonder, when suddenly the car came to a halt, and the door was flung open and a voice shouted -- "Stockyards!"

(from the Bantam Classic Edition, copyright 1981, Bantam Books)

A few parallels I found between the two books, so far:

1. Chapter 3 of The Jungle devoted several pages to describing the butchering of pigs, in Animal Farm, the pigs were the administrators of the Animal Farm.

2. Jurgis, the lead character of The Jungle, has a striking similarity with Boxer, the workhorse in Animal Farm. Both are humble, quiet workers who consider their physical strength as their greatest asset. And when confronted with challenges, both essentially have the same, almost mantra-like reply, "I will work harder!" I'm just hoping that Jurgis' fate in The Jungle is better than poor Boxer's in Animal Farm.

More books in the coming days, so stay tuned hehe


P.S.

kept confusing George Orwell with Orson Welles...hahaha mixing film classics and literary classics...

OMG!

I literally was going "Oh My God!" when I saw this video because I've heard this song before in high school but I didn't realize that this was sung by MILLA JOVOVICH.

You heard me, Milla Jovovich was at one point a musician who wrote her own songs.

The title of this song is the "Gentleman Who Fell"



Listening to this song convinced me of Milla's talent. This song used to be played on "Killer Bee" often...hahahahaha grabe...a wave of nostalgia suddenly hit me

By the way my encounter with Milla's music vid was brought about by watching the Resident Evil DVD and then going online to wikipedia which eventually led to youtube. I so love these two sites...

Millaaaaaaa! Labyu labyu labyuuuuuu! hahahaha

Friday, April 11, 2008

Leave Sinead Alone!

Daw obvious man nga wala ko masyado himuon diri sa boarding house except surf the internet for hours. hehehe my previous posts have featured several vids from my suki Youtube. I stumbled across these and I just can't help but blog about this.

As I revealed during an earlier post, one of my pet peeves is if musicians try to rip off songs that I like, mangling the classic tunes in the process. Whatever happened to originality -- or at least innovation?

Note to musicians who want to make covers of other people's songs: make sure you understand the subtext or "meaning" of the songs, especially if you're ripping off songs whose lyrics are supposed to mean something, whose music, and the artist's singing were supposed to evoke a certain feeling.

It's not enough that you liked the song therefore you're entitled to a remake. Remember that you're musical artists and if you wish to build upon a work of another, make sure that your work either surpasses or at least comes to equal that of the original...

In short, nugay kamo kopya kung indi nyo man lang mapanindugan ang kanta nga original. Mga bwiset kamo!

Leave "Nothing Compares to You" Alone!

Leave Sinead O'Connor in Peace you Bastards! grrrrrr....

First in line for the firing squad is Stereophonics. Medyo pasado na sana but the style of singing, given Kelly Jone's raspy voice is not suited for the rendition. Stereophonics shouldn't have touched this song...Nice try, pero es peor!



Ari ang sadya, Fall Out Boy's performance during one of their concerts. Pasintabi sa mga fans sang Fall Out Boy pero I feel like killing them when I heard the first few seconds of their rendition. Ano ka, feeling Billy Joel or Elton John? Your vocal calisthenics are merely for show and are too distracting. A shameful, amateurish attempt...good thing you didn't try to sing the WHOLE song. Su version es El Peor!



Practice pa kamo mga toto because if you think you've done something original or very fantastic, chances are there were older bands who did it earlier and way better than you. In fairness I'll just condemn you for this rendition as I have yet to listen to your tunes, tiempohan ko gid kamo beh...

Niki Evans: good voice, but lacks the subtlety of the original, every note feels like a punch -- walang finesse. the way she drags out some of the notes was a bit irritating, and the backing vocals sound creepy.



ari ang original para makit-an nyo kung nga-a ginhigh-blood ko tungang gab-i.



May Spanish subtitles pa na hehehe

Now THIS is a classic. May ma-angal?

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Canciones por Mujeres Muy Lindas

1. "Jackie's Strength" by Tori Amos



2. "A Simple Kind of Life" by No Doubt



3. "No Man's Woman" by Sinead O'Connor



que piensas como unas canciones?

Anthropomorphism/Zoomorphism...

Three childhood cartoons featuring humanoid feline creatures, human/sea creature hybrids, and people magically transformed into animals...good times...

1. Thundercats



2. Tiger Sharks



3. Visionaries

Hwat an Improvement! Hahahaha

Remember the "Ken Lee" woman and her notorious audition video in Bulgaria's "Music Idol"?



Now she's back and, thankfully, better than her previous performance...



Apparently, the whole of Bulgaria has memorized the mangled-lyric version that Valentina Hasan (Ken Lee's real name) first performed but you have to give it to the girl, she has improved significantly since that audition. Not just in singing -- apparently learning English made her shed a few pounds...I could just imagine ang hirap na pinagdaanan ni Valentina hahahaha

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Amen? Amen!

Got this from Lenard's blog. Interesting to note that this afternoon I played DoTA and was hammered in two straight games -- by the AI! Computer(Normal) pa na! hahahaha maybe this prayer will help...


THE DOTA PRAYER

Dear GODLIKE,

Thank you for OWNING me another day.

May all the WICKED SICK be

healed by your DOMINATING touch.

May your PERSEVERANCE be present

MORNING TAVERN until DAWN TAVERN.

May you increase our CRITICAL from

LUCIFER and damage his ARMOR

with our DIVINE RAPIER.

Sorry if we BACK STAB you.

Send us our GUARDIAN ANGEL

to save us.

May you continue to bring

UNSTOPPABLE blessings and

fill our HEARTS with TARRASQUE

and remove us from this

MASK OF MADNESS.

AMEN

Que compro para leer

There are only two things that will make me spend without thinking of the consequences: BOOKS and MUSIC. I thought about including MOVIES on this list but so far I could still resist the temptation to go watch movies. But the first two have had a firm strangehold on me ever since...

Originally, I was mulling over buying Music CDs at Odyssey Trinoma. It had been quite a while since I had bought an original CD. The most recent one that I bought was "Zeitgeist" by the "Smashing Pumpkins" and that was about 6 months ago, I think. I was surprised that CD prices have decreased somewhat -- I saw a double-CD album which was priced at P400. I think this may be a strategy to counter the increasing piracy of music online and in the black market.

I was looking at the CD stacks and I was choosing between three albums (all of them, interestingly, were double-CDs): A "Best Of" collection of Fantastic Plastic Machine, a new album from Darren Hayes (former vocalist of Savage Garden), and a 'Collections' album of Led Zeppelin. I also other noteworthy CDs: a best-of collection from Matchbox Twenty and the 'American Idiot' album of Green Day.

I finally decided to postpone buying either of the top three picks I had, planning to check them out on the internet (or possibly download them na lang para cheap, hehe) The problem was when I stepped out of Odyssey and wandered into the bargain bookstand right outside of Odyssey. To put the situation in mathematical terms:

(books + good bargains at ridiculously low prices) (probability that ditch will find a book that suits his taste) = willingness to spend one's entire fortune

This, ladies and gentlemen, is Ditch's Waldas Index (waldas: to spend)

So the two prize finds in that bargain bookstand were:

1. "On the Shoulders of Giants: the great works of Physics and Astronomy" - edited, wth commentary by Stephen Hawking -- a 1000 page collection of the classic works of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton and Einstein. Bought it for only P 420.00. I contacted Grace about my amazing find and I convinced her to pay me back the book cost in return for me turning over this book to her collection. A book fit for science geeks -- for others, read at the risk of nosebleeds and subdural hemorrhage. I survived for a only a few pages...then got lost in all the mathematical and geometric jargon...then just looked at the illustrations like a mental patient undergoing a Rorschach test...

2. "The Medieval Reader: Firsthand Accounts of the Middle Ages including letters, essays, state and church documents, poetry and ballads" - a book clearly suited for history geeks hahaha I look forward to browsing these pages. So far I've read Pope Urban II's speech urging the Catholic faithful to the Crusades...an account of the capture of Jerusalme by French crusaders by William of Tyre...graphic descriptions of violence, torture and the aftermath of war...so far, so good. Other documents contained in this book include translations of the Rules of St. Benedict, the contrived 'Donation of Constantine', Marco Polo's description of the court of Kublai Khan, and other lesser known documents which shed light on some interesting aspects of medieval life.


I'm in heaven right now!

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

What Happened?

Just received a strange call from Mama back home a few moments ago. And I really need to blog about this.

I assumed that Mama was calling to check up on me and to give me updates on my sobrinos staying at home. But then Mama was talking about Brian crying and something that happened to my computer.

Mama handed the phone to my nephew, Brian, but I could hardly understand what he was saying. First, he was sobbing and hysterical. He was starting every sentence with "I'm sorry Tito Mike..." punctuated by incessant sobs. From what I could gather from Brian, it seems that the PC was experiencing a lag due to the game Frozen Throne. This has been a recurring problem even prior to today's incident. My poor nephew instantly assumed that the PC hanging was his fault and began to go into hysterics, fearing my wrath because of what he had 'done' to my computer.

But I know that it was not his fault. How fortunate that the call came right after I stepped out of a cold shower as I had a cool head to view the incident objectively. So I told Brian to hand over the phone to Diding, our helper, whom I had tutored on basic troubleshooting when this stuff happens. We tried the Ctrl+Alt+Del approach first. I could not figure out if it worked since I could not really see what was happening with the screen, so I told Diding to push the 'Restart' button and see what happens. When Diding started seeing the Windows logo, I knew that everything was fine. But unfortunately, Brian no longer wanted to play with my PC. I had to talk to him again, reassuring him that it was not his fault that the PC experienced a bit of trouble and that I know that he was doing his best to be careful with my PC when he's playing.

In my mind, the boy was only doing what I taught him to do and what he saw me doing when I was working on my PC so I guess I could not place malice on his actions. After all, the incident was not his fault -- damn that PC! hehehehe

This incident got me thinking that Brian had been thoroughly intimidated by my angry presence. It is often in rare occasions that I vent my anger but those times are never good for those on the receiving end of my wrath. Ask my former students, who still cringe at some of my bulletin posts on friendster regarding some matters that "tweak" the angry side of me, and instantly mail me messages asking if "akig ka sir?" or telling me "indi lang sir mangakig."

The angry me -- pray that you do not meet the dark side of sonofaditch hehehehe

I'm doing Pavlov proud, I guess...

Sin Noticias de Ditch...Pero Hoy...

the title of this post is a rip-off from a Spanish film that made me see Penelope Cruz in a different light hahaha.

I wasn't able to gain access to the internet during the last few days of my vacation in Bacolod so this post is now being written at the boarding house -- where one of the (paid) perks is unlimited internet access...bwahahahaha

So before my early-onset Alzheimer's kicks in once again, allow me to recapture some of the memories of vacation in this second-to-the last part of the 'Noticias/Mga Nakaw Na Sandali" series...

Yearbook 2007

Finally! the masterpiece of UNO-R HS batch 2007 is just a few months away from being released come Sembreak 2008. The long delay from last year's sembreak when Lelis and I finally completed the yearbook (dummy-form) was due to the very hectic schedules of Sir Harry, to whom the task of final approval was assigned, and Mrs. Song (final text corrections naman ni kay Ms Alon). Thus, the final submission of the yearbook to Alpha kept getting postponed. It was only when I arrived that Sir Harry had enough of a break so that both of us could finally deliver the final, approved blueprint of the Yearbook to the prnting company.

When we finally delivered the blueprints to Alpha, the staff informed me about a complaint that was brought to their attention regarding the Yearbook. I won't delve much into details since I already addressed this issue in a very LONG friendster bulletin but suffice to say that the concerns aired were unfounded and though initially I was irritated by the news, we finally laughed it off as a misunderstanding which was unduly complicated by rumors and tsismis.

A great weight has been lifted from our shoulders (and minds) as Sir Harry and I finalized the details of the yearbook. Now, all that's left is to wait for a few months until the eventual release of Yearbook 2007. Lelis, the Yearbook EIC, herself is excited but we still have to iron out the details of our respective sembreak schedules so that we can be on hand to oversee the release of the Yearbook.

Initially, the Yearbook staff and I envisioned Yearbook 2007 as the first yearbook to be released within a year upon graduation. Since that goal was not met, consolation prize is that there is a great possibility that Yearbook 2007 will be relased earlier than Yearbook 2006. haha!

Though earlier I announced that the release of the yearbook will be on September 2008, a quick glance at last year's school calendar revealed that sembreak starts on October 2008...oh well, nothing another announcement can't fix. Basta Batch 2007, release of Yearbook will be during the Semestral Break. I will be confirming within the next few months if indeed it'll be September or October. Apologies for making you wait a bit longer but I promise that your yearbook is worth the wait...