And Winter Came

It's about freaking time. Listening to Christmas songs in late March...oh the irony...

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The GOOD: a firefighter turns into a superhero in Thailand


read about it here

The BAD: ako yung bad. A bad Enya fan. I wandered into Astroplus at The Block SM North and saw a new album by the Goddess...


Please don't look at me like that...

Huwat?! May album na pala siya? Syet, ba't wala akong kaalam-alam?

It was a Christmas album that was released 2008. WTF?

Di bale, next week bilhin ko yan to atone for my transgressions...Forgive me!

The UGLY: eto...si Bayani nagwawala...



Hay naku, sana na setel - este - settle na ang problema...

WTF? Galeeeeng....

I was listening to some Enya tracks to lull me to sleep when I thought why not feature an Enya vid on my blog? After all, it has been awhile since I featured the Goddess herself. But then I came across this vid...



I was going WTF? and then I was laughing, then I was trying my best to sing along (the lyrics are in Latin so it's a bit difficult) then I was quietly applauding this guys bravado...si Enya pa ang piniling gawan ng rendition, tapos ni-layer pa ang vocals na style din ni Enya hahahaha ambisyoso ka! Gregorian isdatyu? wahahahaha

I should be brimming with indignation at the seeming 'sacrilege' but having viewed the comments section I realized that this kid is a fan just like me. And this piece is an earnest tribute from him.

In fairness, he's got some talent. I remember I was second year high school when Corazon and I were tapping on the piano in the old, old auditorium playing "Lothlorien". I don't know how to play piano, pero kinarir kasi Enya hahahahaha

Heto yung original...




Afer Ventus

Mare nubium. Umbriel.
Mare imbrium. Ariel.
Et itur ad astra.
Et itur ad astra.
Mare undarum. Io. Vela.


Mirabile dictu. Mirabilia.
Mirabile visu. Mirabilia.
Et itur ad astra.
Et itur ad astra.
Sempervirent. Rosetum.


Afer Ventus. Zephyrus.
Volturnus. Africus.
Et itur ad astra.
Et itur ad astra.
Etesiarum. Eurus.


The song mentions the names of satellites more commonly known as 'Shepherd Moons'. These moons orbit the so-called 'ringed' planets: Jupiter (Io, Adrastea), and Neptune (Ariel, Umbriel--named after characters in Shakespeare plays). It is interesting to note that the moons of the most famous ringed planet --Saturn-- were not mentioned. Baka hindi nagra-rhyme? Hello...Titan, Thetys, Enceladus?...hahaha

Zephyrus and Eurus are ancient names for the winds -- the west and the east, respectively. Mare means sea. Interestingly, Afer Ventus means 'southwest wind' and it is also known by the name Africus.

That's about half of my Latin vocabulary. Haw-as man baul ta sang Latin ba...

The other names refer to ancient deities and constellations. I-Google or wikipedia niyo na lang para na kasing lecture and post na ito.

You should see some of the Enya discussion groups on the web that I often stray into--yung lyrics ina-analyze to death ng mga fans...some of the posts on these sites sound like theses or papers in linguistics or comparative literature. May mas obsessed pa pala kay Enya kesa sakin? hahahaha

Compare and Contrast

special thanks to Grace for calling my attention to these vids on Youtube. Here's Celtic Woman with their version of the classic New Age theme "Orinoco Flow"




Now, here's the original from the one and only New Age Goddess: ENYA. Listen carefully to the lyrics since a certain Visayan city is mentioned in the song (sorry, indi Bacolod hehehe)