~* AKAFELLAS @ TAVERN ON THE SQUARE

the AKAfellas (L to R): ikey, jhett, reubs, karl, robi, myke, pau & roger

I think the last time I watched the Akafellas perform was last year pa. To give you a clearer picture, the last time I watched the 'fellas perform, Ikey was bald... now he has regular-length hair. I'm still not used to seeing him with hair. Hehe.

Met up with Teena last Tuesday (Sept. 13) to go to the 'fellas gig which was really convenient for me this time coz it was just in Tavern @ Greenbelt (usually, their gigs are always somewhere in QC/Pasig area). Twas just around 20mins. away from my office so I was happy to catch this gig.

Tere joined us later. We all sat together with Pau's cousin from Canada (I'm so bad with names... I forgot what her name was, sorry!), Emily (Roger's S.O.) and Ikey's S.O. (again, I'm bad with remembering names I tell ya!). On the next table sat Robi's family. His kid brother River was sooo cute in that funny picture that Tere took. River was sleeping soundly and they put a beer bottle in his hand. Hehe. (River missed pretty much the entire performance of the 'fellas coz he fell asleep after about 10 minutes of the 'fellas' first set.)

Fave quote of the night: "Guys, can you stop referring to me as new?" ~ Jhett*

* Jhett replaced Red last year around Sept., I think. Red is currently pursuing his dream to become a director and is studying in NY now.

~* NOW PLAYING: A New Tattoo by Urbandub *~

Song of the moment... I loved this song the first time I heard it thru its video in MTV months back. I sooo love the synthesized (?) guitar riffs in the intro and chorus. Wow, I didn't realize this was about loving someone from afar/chope song until i googled for the lyrics...

Waaah. I wish I could catch an Urbandub gig soon. *crosses fingers for the Ad Congress trip to Cebu... hope to catch a gig during that time!*

Ooh. They are coming out with their 3rd album soon...

A NEW TATTOO

by Urbandub

Great moments they pass by
If you’re careless
Desperately trying to speak the words
I’ve been wanting to say for a long time.
Tongue tied, every time I try to talk to you
In time, I’ll find the right line.

Caught a glimpse of you
I tremble every time you walk by
Hopelessly trying to find a way
To be near you, to get near you.
In my mind, plays thoughts of you all the time
I’ll find the right line…

I’ll bleed for you
Like a new tattoo in my heart
You’ll stay permanent…

Am I too late now?
Will I find a way to get to you somehow?
She’s breaking me down again
She’s breaking me down.

~* WILL THE REAL ALVIN ALFONSO PLEASE STAND UP? *~

Hmfft. My officemate was surfing Friendster this morning and stumbled upon this profile of Alvin Alfonso (think: PLDT DSL, Colgate, Master Facial Wash, Ponds and Bench b/low ads). One of his pictures caught my officemate's eye. Coz hellloooo, it was my pic with Alvin from last year's Hush Puppies thingie in ATC wherein we watched the 'fellas perform. So WTF is MY picture doing there?! Hermm. I checked out the profile and discovered that another one of the pics was those shots I took of him while he was modelling the Hush Puppies stuff. Both pictures bore my usual stamp of my webbie address. (I always stamp my celebrity pictures which I post on the net with my angelfire website {nowadays with my blogspot URL}).

Sooo... this is the second time that somebody out there indiscriminately right-clicked on my blog photos. Gaaah. The first incident was this faker who made a fake profile of Franco Mabanta (who used to be Akafellas' manager and umm, you may remember him as "Jasper" from the Coke(?) commercials) using my picture with him (and Tere) during the 'fellas' Greenbelt Onstage concert. The poor Adobe Photoshop-challenged faker could not erase my entire website address on the pic such that the word "fire.com" was still stamped on Franco's forehead. I was able to easily verify that fake profile coz I happened to know people who actually knew Franco personally. We reported the damn profile a coupla times to that "Friendster abuse" link.

But this time... Oooh this one's interesting! I cannot really gauge if it's some convincing impostor or if it's the real deal. The grammar is decent, the pictures look personal, some of the testimonials seemed to be from people who really knew him and oh gee there's even a blog!

Ewaness. If it's a faker, I will be royally pissed. I hate it when people steal my photos. And it is infuriating that my photos become part of something that is deceiving unsuspecting fans out there. Whatever happened to asking for permission to use somebody's virtual/net property?!

But if it's really Alvin, HE OWES ME A DAY-LONG DATE AND A KISS. hah! :P

will the real alvin alfonso please stand up?

~* CHOCOLATE TOOTHPASTE & A WHOLE LOT OF OTHER STUFF *~

I have been intensely curious about the Close-Up Flavalicious Choco Loco (thanks to the daily persuasive must-try-this talk of Chico & Delamar) for a coupla weeks now and finally, I got to try it yesterday. My dad who knew I was soooo curious to taste it bought me one after his trip to the grocery the other day. That was a day or two after I got excited when our maid told me that my dad bought a Close-Up Choco Loco, only to find out later that he has given it to my nephew:( I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to try it so he remembered to buy me a small tube during his next visit to the grocery :)

It's insanely yummy for a toothpaste! It tastes exactly like that Fashion21 chocolate-flavored lip gloss that I tried before. It's the best toothpaste to use when you've just eaten something with an aftertaste like onions, garlic, fish, vinegar, etc.

Hmm. Willy Wonka is in the house.

~oO0Oo~
Greg my personal hero/inspiration/you-go-girl-cheerer is coming to town! My officemate toldthe news to me this morning and on my way home this evening, I saw this huge tarpaulin banner in front of Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf/Music One in Greenbelt. He'll be in Greenbelt for a stand-up comedy thing on the 15th and a book signing on the 16th (if i remember the dates right... something like that...)

So paging ABBIE: must. have. my. book. hahaha! are you buying me a new one in time for next week's book signing? ;-)


~oO0Oo~
Sh*t. Hmm. Parang I'm near na to being broke?! Badtrip. All-time low my checkbook balance. Putris.

• It's so freakin' expensive to go to the derma to have a diamond peel. Must stop being vain.
• I think I've been buying 2-3 CDs every month. Must stop my impulsive CD-buying spree. I must stop dropping by Tower Records or Music One.
• Have I been going to too many gigs? I'm not sure. Must minimize gig attendance.
  
  I WANNA BUY...
• the new sleek pocket-sized Kodak EasyShare V530 . I waaaant the *absolute pink* one. I'm selling my Kodak LS420... Buy it na, biliiiis... so I can buy this new one ;)
  

• the following CDs...

Barbie's "Singles"

Urbandub's
"Influence"

Pearl Jam's "Rearview
Mirror" and "Ten"

Nirvana's "Nirvana"

Stone Temple Pilot's "Thank
You"

~oO0Oo~

TRIVIA FOR THE WEEK: Wow, I just learned from Tin that Urbandub is Cebu-based pala? Wow. They sound so, hmm, Manila-ish. They are sooo good. I love their unique sound. They're my new fave of the moment. I hope I can watch one of their gigs soon. Hmm. I hope I get to catch them when I go to Cebu this Nov. for Ad Congress... I have been loving A New Tattoo eversince I saw the vid in MTV moooonths back... I never heard it being played on the radio. Weird. Or maybe I just don't listen to NU107 that much...




~oO0Oo~

I am sooo loving my Jagged Little Pill Acoustic CD. I sooo love "Forgiven" ("What I learned I rejected but I believe again..."). And aliw... "Your House" is still a hidden track. Hmm. Did anyone notice that Alanis changed the lyrics to "Ironic" ("it's like meeting the man of my dreams, and meeting his beautiful HUSBAND.") Oooh. There's a story there!




~oO0Oo~

LAST SONG SYNDROME! James Blunt's "You're Beautiful".

It's been on loop in my office PC's Winamp. *sigh* Feeling down and unpretty? Listen to this song and imagine that James Blunt is singing it to you (a bit pathetic, haha, I knooow... but bear with me on this one, will ya?!):

My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Fucking high,
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.
You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.




~oO0Oo~

What is up with people saying "Wala lang. "?! Putek. Pa-cute ba yun?

Fiiiine. Sige na nga. *rolls eyes* Cute na nga.

~* HAPPY SATURDAY NIGHT *~

Went to Teena's place last night for her pre-birthday celebration and Red's despedida (he flew back to NY today). Once again, I had a taste of Teena's yummy sangloffs (sp?). Oh and this new Sprite Ice we had was great. Love it! It's great too for mixing with Artic Strawberry vodka;) We dunked bananas and marshmallows on Tere's choco fondue :) Lots of food on the table and funny crazy conversations made the night so happy. What with the shrilly voice of Vilma Santos singing in the background (CD courtesy of Robi!). It made Tere wish that she brought her Ramona Revilla CD. Haha. The fellas' funny recounting of their experience at the Government (this gay bar thingie somewhere in Makati. Something like Bed in Malate daw...), the homophobic stories, the f & p syndrome ("wanna puck?" or "wanna pornicate?" LMFAO when Jhett gave this spiel!). Never a dull moment indeed when I am around these bunch of friends :)

The crazy people of the night were: Jhett, Robi, Red, Reubs (left early coz he had a date, hehe) , Karl, Pau, Teena, Mika, Tere, Glenda, Sarah, June (just dropped by) and me.

the girls (pics @ the bottom): teena, mika, tere, glenda, sarah & june
top photos: red (and jhett) for sprite ice; jhett: "try nyo kantahin yung beam toothpaste jingle nang serious..."; robi doing the best gay pose he could muster


the party (doing a spoof of the "yearbook open-mouth smile" on the top photo. lol.)

~* HALE @ 19EAST *~

*FINALLY*.

Yesterday was the first real Hale gig that I've been to. The first time I watched them was in their album signing at Tower Records Glorietta which was not much of a real gig but more of an interaction with the band.

I'm tamad to make detailed kwento coz I'm still in *zombie mode*. I got home around 2:30am after the gig and then woke up at 6am to go to work. And so I've had only about 3.5 hours of sleep as of now. So forgive my lack of enthusiasm to go into details with this post.

Anyway, we *had to* watch Monkeyspank, 13 Needles and Join the Club who all performed before Hale. Aliw nevertheless. College bands kind of thing. From UP, Ateneo, UST Conservatory of Music... stuff like that. I was most aliw with the stage presence of Join the Club. I think they were friends with Roll back in UST or something coz he was chatting with them at the parking lot after the gig. Monkeyspank was a nu-metalish kind of band so the vocals were growly/scream-o. Haha. I was thinking if Abbie could bear with the noise -- coz at least, Tin, Charo and I are appreciative of rock music... but Abbie never dug any kind of music bordering on the noisy side;-) 13 Needles: I remember them doing a rock version of *gasp* Quit Playing Games with my Heart by BSB! Quite entertaining as much as hearing Blink 182 do a Britney with a rock version of Hit Me Baby (One More Time).

So anyway, there. Hale played around past 12midnight already -- after the quasi-album launch of Join the Club. lol. ;P Dang! We were tricked into that one! hehe.

Hale played around 10 songs, their originals plus a cover of Coldplay's Yellow. I was pretty much digicamming the whole time. Nagtataka na siguro si Champ why forever na lang nakataas yung digicam ko. (I was taking vids). I could see kasi na napapatingin na sya to me since yun nga, I was holding up my digicam almost all throughout their set. My arm kinda hurts. huhuhu. Okay, coñotic taglish na post ko. *lol* I don't wanna think anymore. *zombie mode*

Umm. I have three excuses why I'm not posting all the Hale pics I took:

1. I'm too much of a zombie now to collate it in Photoshop.
2. I'm selfish. Hehe. I'm not too happy with right-clicker-strangers.
   Especially those who don't ask permission/make an acknowledgement when they use the pictures I took.
3. With the frequent traffic due to Hale search engine results, it will consume a lot of the allocated daily bandwidth of the various image hosts I use. I hate seeing tiny red "x" marks where my pics used to be.
   

And can I just say... it was hard to get a pic of Omnie coz Champ was directly in front of the drum set from the angle where we sat :( I only manage to see parts of Omnie in the videos. And Sheldon was hard to photograph too coz he was standing on the dim side of the stage. I don't like using my flash coz I don't wanna ruin the lighting effects of the stage so most of my Sheldon pics were quite dark and blurry.

me and the girls (abbie, charo, tin)...


me and hale. (umm, sans omnie. hmm. didn't see him anymore after the gig...)*Need I label this and name them? hehe. Kilala na sila ng buong Pilipinas !;-)


Funnies:

A: "hehe,para silang mga model ng Pony..."
B: "Uhh. Oo nga, sponsored sila ng Pony eh!"


A: "ano ba yan! sad song na naman. wala ba silang mga happy songs?"
B: "Uhh. MELODRAMA kasi yung music nila."


*wink, wink* :P

~* NOW PLAYING: Kung Wala Ka by Hale *~

They only have two Filipino-penned tracks on their album and this song is the one I like more. I sooo love the way Champ sang this. So poignant.

KUNG WALA KA

Words by: Roll Martinez & Champ Lui-Pio

Natapos na ang lahat
Nandito pa rin ako
Hetong nakatulala
Sa mundo

Hindi mo maiisip
Hindi mo makikita
Ang mga pangarap ko
Para sa iyo

Oh…
Hindi ko maisip
Kung wala ka
Oh…
sa buhay ko

Nariyan ka pa ba
Hindi ko na matanaw
Kung merong madadaanang
Pasulong

Sundan mo ang paghimig na lulan
Na aking pinagtanto
Sundan mo ang paghimig ko