haiku 2

iced blended coffee
what is it really good for
sweet diarrhea

Why "A Crazy Little Thing Called Love" works for me

I’ve seen this movie twice already. The wallpaper in my office desktop is a tiled picture of Nam. I already “liked” the facebook page of this movie and also a fan page dedicated to Baifern. I guess I really like the film and yeah, Nam is  really cute.

Why does this movie works for me?

I first heard of this movie from RB. They have seen the movie five times already (and counting, I guess) and they recommended that I should also see this movie. One day I decided to download a hardsubbed copy. First I don’t know if the movie I’m about to see the same thing they were talking about because at the first scenes is this guy and the pre-puberty looking dark skinned girl. I asked Chast if I am looking at the same movie as them because the title is in Thai and the filename of the video that I downloaded is First Love (A Little Thing Called Love)engsub.avi, I thought I got the wrong movie but she confirmed that this is the shiz. Two hours later, I finished the movie and I enjoyed it. In between, yes, I had a few laughs, giggles and all the feelings the Nam and Shone character must be feeling. Works fine for a feel good movie.

I like that culture of the Thai kids are a little bit close to our own, almost equally conservative that there were no kissing scenes in the movie taking in consideration that the movie took place in high school( or an equivalent). Good job. First I thought that this is a coming of age movie but it was better.

I guess the movie worked for me because of course I’ve been in that phase too. I know how the "silay" phase in high school suffices a certain need. Just that simple glimpse of a crush gives joy to the heart. The letters, the gifts: The very first phone call. The so-called “inspiration” to be better in everything. I think it is good to flashback on past experiences especially those kinds which are kinda foolish and humiliatingly funny when I see today that I am a little older but when I was a younger, well, immature. Not to be ashamed of because those stuff made me who I am right now (the movie has an epilogue 9 years after, or was everything really a flashback, I dunno).

I enjoyed the movie the same reason why I salvaged my old Friendster blog in the hands of Blogger and ye old Friendster pics to Multiply. Why I still listen to the Swiss Army Romance romance every now and then. Why I keep old stuff from every phase of my life in my room. It reminds me youth: the joys, the naïveté, the stupidity and hardships of being young: the need to balance studies with shenanigans with your peers and having a crush. The movie reminds me that I was young and being young is always fun. Who wants to grow old anyway?

haiku 1

scream loudly for fun

shout at everyone you know

while holding a gun

Pahiyas Roadtrip: Traversing Laguna de Bay

I have been intrigued on how a roadtrip to Quezon would be like using the backdoor route. Often times, the most used way is through SLEX. I’ve been itching to try the route and it’s just about time to do it for a trip to Pahiyas.

Armed with 13-page printout of Google maps and a lot of internet research, we were ready. We left Ortigas at around 5AM. We fetched Chast in Cainta and go straight to Antipolo. Passing by Ortigas junction we saw a dead dobberman puppy in the middle of the road. Poor puppy. It might have got away from an open gate someplace nearby.

Our first missed turn was the left turn to Antipolo. We went the other way and were going to SM Taytay. I don’t have that on the map and I assume the others know the right way. Anyways, we made a U-turn then climb up to Antipolo. Going straight we passed by the zigzag road overlooking the Laguna de bay and Rizal valley. It was a very good view. I wish maybe sometime i can take a photograph of that place.

Before we reached Tanay, we saw a rainbow.

I can't photograph it with a good foreground though

We went straight then passed by the intersection of Tanay Sampaloc road which would go to Daranak. That was the farthest  I have been taking the same road. Going further the road would be new to me. We would be crossing the boundary of Laguna and Rizal passing through Bugarin View deck. This part of the road overlooks the Laguna Lake. We stopped there a little and took some photos. What’s funny about the place is the young vendors approach to sell something. They have the same script which goes like this: “kuya/ate bili ka na, gwapo/maganda ka naman kamukha mo nga si{name of a celebrity they can think of} ”. para silang sindikato.

After the view deck the sceneries are picturesque.

beautiful grasslands in the side of the road

canopy

We get a little lost after we passed the town of Magdalena when we are trying to go to Nagcarlan. There are no signs. Only Majayjay. "Asking skills" are fruitful though for this trip. We found out when we were heading back that signs are available the other way. This is I think what the downside is for using the backdoor route. When we reached Nagcarlan, asking skills are again, utilized because Barangay Bambang in my google map printout is way off to the right when we should have turned left and the underground cemetery is just about one kilometre from the junction.

The place was awesome. 

There are also other groups stopping by to take pictures which I also assumed are also heading to Lucban.

Next stop would be Taytay Falls in Majayjay. Going there is a little easy because signs going to Taytay falls are available on the roads. We paid the entrance fees and parking fee then start walking towards the waterfalls. 

the 40-peso parking area

I’m pretty expecting this falls to be a little like Daranak falls being a park run by the local government but luckily for this place, it is still a little tidier this I think mainly because the river where people can bathe is longer compared to Daranak and there are 7 waterfalls overall. 

The falls basin is however modified and some of the other smaller falls which somewhat resembles a dam. There are many tents pitched. I wonder how’s it like inside the tents.

we found this pile of rubbish

 When we left, it is already noon. We were hungry but Lucban is just a few minutes away. We can eat our lunch there. Several stalls are present selling grilled stuff but we decided to pass on the food and go straight to Lucban instead.

We love the part of the road where there is a dip then rise again. It feels like a rollercoaster if we go through it slow then accelerate just like how it would be like on a rollercoaster. That was fun and made us forget the hunger a little.

When we reach Lucban, we had to park inside the elementary school grounds. The town is very small and they do not allow any traffic to pass through.

so this is how kiping looks like up close

We head through the church where food maybe nearby but managed to take some pictures first from the nicely decorated house along the way. We were gonna eat at buddy’s but the place was packed. Long lines are on queue outside while the sun is scorching.

We decided to look for other place instead. I saw this tapsilogan on the opposite block but it sukcs that we were not able to order any food. They told us that they have to serve first the backlog orders and the cook will be taking a break. Since we are already seated, what we did is we bought pansit habhab outside for ten pesos per serving and we ate it there. We were very hungry that time and we thought that looking for another place to eat may go unsuccessful. 

the place where we ate our pre-lunch

After the quick bite and a lot of soda, we head down the road again to search for real food possibly with rice this time. We end up eating in this place where they only serve longganisa and rice. We only spend about 45 pesos which was of course cheap and enough to keep us going.

our lunch of two small longganisa with rice

Around 2pm when we start walking again. We took photos of the houses and did a little bit of shopping. It was very hot so instead of always holding an umbrella, we bought hats at very cheap prices.  We also catch the parade then take photos again of the other houses.

it was this hot...

so we bought ourselves awesome hats

official thirst quencher of this trip

When we got enough of the beautiful houses, we decided to go to Kamay ni Hesus. Since we won’t be able to get the car cross the town, we would be commuting. Walking towards the other end of the town is very tiring. When we reach the other end, traffic is not moving.  Commuting would be impossible. We were about a kilometre and a half away from the place but we decided to abort. Walking back and forth and up and down a mountain would be agonizing and our feet are already aching.

a sea of sombreros

We returned to the town then bought the pasalubong. We passed by eker and ely’s a little earlier but the line in that place is very long. We end up buying in this other place the queue is also long but not the same in Eker and Ely’s. After our last shopping for mainly edible pasalubong, we went to the school and we are ready to leave. We paid 100 pesos for parking.

Going home, we are not taking the backdoor route. We are using SLEX this time. It would be hazardous with the single-lane roads and zigzag during the night. In this way, we will be traversing Laguna de Bay. I don’t really know how to go to SLEX but I know that from Nagcarlan, we can pass by Rizal then San Pablo. Karl said that from San Pablo, he will be able to know the way since he and his family went there last holy week.

When we reached, San Pablo by luck, we went a little lost. We asked by a little sari sari store how to reach San Tomas but the girls told us just to follow any vehicles going our direction. We did that then we end up in Sampaloc Lake, an accidental side trip. 

at Sampaloc Lake

We ate isaw there then went to Cafe Lago for dinner. The meals are a little pricey but for what we spent earlier for lunch, I guess we could spend a little more. What we didn’t know is that the serving of each viand would be good for two. We end up buying another serving of rice and taking out leftovers. The free wi-fi helped us facebook a little while waiting for our digestive sytem rearrange itself for more food to come. We were very full when we left.

Before we reached SLEX, we stopped by the Colette’s flagsip store to buy buco pies. I didn’t know that the original store was in San Pablo until that time. We also buy pineapples and a watermelon at an adjacent store.

When we reached SLEX, I dozed off. When we reached Magallanes, the traffic was really heavy. It was because some construction involving two lanes was on-going in Guadalupe. It sucks that we were not able to meet heavy traffic until we are very near to Ortigas. After that, we were cruising through EDSA.

The trip was really fun. I would like to go to Pahiyas again next year and there’s still more in Laguna worth going to: the lakes, the waterfalls and the old churches.

Labrador

About four weeks ago when I was riding a jeepney from Robinsons  Galleria to Medical City I saw this black dog walking along Ortigas Avenue on The Side Of Meralco Bldg. It was a very old Labrador retriever. His balls are falling off  and he looks really old. Every dog has his day, I think this one is having his.  I think this dog went off from some gate left opened from a house in the nearby subdivisions. He does not look stray to me. 

As my jeepney passed by, I can’t stop looking at the dog because he is very old and i don’t want anything bad happen to it like getting hit by the fast moving vehicles. I don’t think the dog knows where he is going. He just kept strolling. I last saw the dog stopped near the center gate of Meralco. I always get soft hearted about dogs. I get off in the overpass near mfi because I have to stop by the bank, which was still closed by that time. Before I walked towards RBC, I still tried to look in the sidewalk outside Meralco to see if the dog is still walking and might pass along my way. I am not sure if its too bad or good that it didn’t. I just have to wonder what happened to that dog. If there is just something I could do in these situations.

A week before that I saw this post in an image board site with this photo attached:

Bantakay Falls

This was my first trip to Quezon. The first plan was to climb Mt Marami in Cavite but thinking of the summer heat, we opt to go to another location which must be a little cooler, within shades of trees perhaps. Jasen found this falls in Atimonan. Me having been disappointed with my previous trip to Daranak Falls in Tanay willingly said hell yes.

There were only four of us who went on this trip. Most people who come with us to climbs happened to be busy on the weekend. That was April30-May1. We meet up in JAC Liner in Kamias 5AM then we arrived in Lucena around 9AM. The trip was very sluggish. We ate our breakfast there then rode another bus going to Atimonan. What sucks about this is that we don’t know really where we should alight. I know that the zigzag road is our landmark but the bus conductor told me he does not know where it is. Bummer! We ended up going to Atimonan market then ride a jeepney going back to where the bus passed by a little earlier. Then we were at the old zigzag road. At that point we also don’t know where to go next. Pinagbanderahan is supposed to be uphill so we went up the zigzag road. Climbing up is tiring to the legs because of the firm concrete road as compared to real dirt when climbing a real mountain. This terrain is not spoken of when mountain climbing is concern. 

test shot using my toy cam

A little bit up the mountain, we ended up on Quezon National Park. 

Quezon National Forest Park

It seems to be a stopover for those travelers where they can eat lunch. We also ate our lunch there. We only ordered rice and opened one can of sausage. It started raining so the idea of still going to Pinagbanderahan was aborted. We were more excited about the waterfalls.

going down the zigzag road after the rain

Going down the zigzag road again we were lucky that the rain stopped. We saw this guy selling giant snails. It was my first time seeing really big snails.  They were caught in the forests during the evening. I wonder how it tastes like because we saw empty shells of these snails possibly grilled near Niyugan campsite.

We rode a tricycle going to Bgy Sta Catalina, jump off to Bantakay. There we registered, hired a guide then we were off. We arrived at Niyugan campsite about 4pm. There’s a lot of mosquitoes so we made a campfire hoping that the smoke will help reduce the number of mosquitoes. This campfire is also a little helpful that we have something to look at, like a TV or something that keeps us from getting really bored while waiting for our supper to be ready.The whole day was very tiring. Lights off was very early at about 9pm since there is only four of us so there is not much socials needed.

Niyugan Campsite

In the morning, we woke up early. About 6AM.  After breakfast, we headed up to the falls. It was great compared to what I see in Daranak. What sucked as always is all the rubbish around the waterfalls and the river below it. The guide told us the day before that the place is cleaned from time to time. The holy week may have brought all these trash. It is saddening that people who come to this place should at least have the courtesy to clean up after. We also learned that the waters that dropped from Bantakay is not that heavy because some are being diverted to a dam.

Swimming in the waterfalls is fun. I don’t know how to really swim so as a work around, they let me used two PET bottles as flotation device so that I can reach the waterfalls. McGuyver would be so proud of that improvisation.  There’s just the four of us in the vicinity so we also had time taking silly pictures like that where I were only wearing leaves. The photos are hilarious. We decided to end the photoshoot when the drizzles come.

We ate lunch, or what was left over from our breakfast then we broke camp.

When we arrived at the jump off point, we learned that the diversion road is closed. Therefore the convenience of getting a bus a few yards from where we were is gone. We could hike until the start of the old zigzag road which was about 8kilometers or get a tricycle if we got lucky. We proceed to the new hike when we saw this halo-halo stand. Of course we stopped to eat some. For fifteen pesos, it was a lot. 

an empty diversion road calls for this photo

After the next bend we were lucky to get a tricycle. It is not really a tricycle but a motorcycle with an attached sidecar which is I think for delivery of some merchandise like bottled water similar to those I see in Manila. We endure the trip then we were able to ride another bus to Lucena City then another jeep to SM Lucena. There we ate out early dinner in an Inasal restaurant. We bought Lucban longganisa and pancit lucban in the supermarket then we head home.

I would like to be back again. Next time we would be prepared for the mosquitoes, the rain and we will know the correct way to commute to that place. I wish Bantakay would still be great. It is not that amazing as it used to be but I wish it should not be worse.

Remakes

I was watching a Saturday Night Live rerun when they had this sketch spoofing the famous boombox scene from Say Anything. I saw the movie before but it’s just now that I noticed the song playing from the boombox. It was "In Your Eyes" by Peter Gabriel. What got me is that I know this song now because I know a version of this song by Sara Bareilles and I can say that hers is better. I thought that it was originally hers.

Stan in the famous boombox scene also spoofed in South Park

This is just an example of a remake where the new version is better. Most of the time especially on local music scene, the remake sucks. I don’t know if these artists still call themselves OPM which in turn reminds me of this shirt. 

I've read of this female singer Suy who made an entire album of cover songs. She did acoustic versions of top 40 songs which are well, new songs. About five years ago, M.Y.M.P. and Nina only release acoustic covers of 80s love songs. Now, they do the latest pop hits also. This sucks. Because of this, they had to pay the rights for releasing these songs. The tabloid write-up said that Ivory Records spent almost a million pesos(I dint really remember how much,hehehe) just to release this record. Waddup! It’s not just here in the Philippines, there’s this band Boyce Avenue that also came here last year which also "specializes" on acoustic covers.ahahaha. What a way to get famous just like that one hit wonder guy from American idol who did a Mariah Carey song.

What more of the people who like punk covers. Kamikazee did Britney Spears’ "Lucky" before and it was a success. They did it once but not anymore. They can create songs of their own. Their song "Narda" which was spoofed by Michael V.’s "Mamaw". Mamaw was also a big hit. There are also issues about this. Issues related to remakes but of different kind I guess.

Punk covers are around for a long time but of course people would not like the song if they did not know the original version. I think people who listen to these covers make them feel all punk and rebellious and stuff but still.. rockin on a Britney Spears song.hahaha.I still don’t know why they have to cover pop songs when they have legends like The Ramones or Sex Pistols which they can cover or why not create a new song. A punk song requires only 3 chords. They should be artists not just performers.

Not just punk, there’s also Bossa Nova. Bossa became a big fad years back because of Sitti Navarro. She did this album with her first hit an original "Para sa akin". It was a success beacause it sounds different, it is original and it is Filipino. Most of her songs are covers though. Suddenly, record label executives saw the market for this music then boom! A lot of bossa artists emerged, including Agot Isidro and 6Cyclemind.hahaha..Well the fad is over and all of these bossa artists are gone now except of course Sitti who still releases a new album this year.

Growing up I also hate watching Sunday noontime variety shows because it just exhibit the big network supposed artists(artista: n.all around showbiz talent) showing off their should be talents on dancing, singing and hosting(I dunno if this is counted as talent). More importantly, they do covers! If they can sing(e.g. if no ghost singers are needed for the performance), these covers will be released as singles and will be heard on the radio. Not again.. Getting famous on remakes. It is sad that there’s seems to be lesser good songwriters left because of this undying trend.

Remakes made a new turn when a TV show called Glee came. I don’t watch the show but when watching other shows on any Solar owned channel, they have this Glee commercial of a stupid performance from the show. They raped good songs mercilessly. I really hate that show. I still don’t know why people buy that crap. The show creator also thinks he’s a Jesus Christ of some sort as seen on this article. I really hope that show die in the very near future. Desperate Housewives is still on air. It sucks also so I guess my wish is still very far from reality.