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November 19, 2006

Pacman Gobbled His Opponent

"It only took Manny Pacquiao three rounds to prove himself the stronger, faster fighter..." - this came from the article featured in HBO and all I could say is amen to that. Pacman has already proven himself in terms of skill and prowess, knocking down previous opponents like a raging pit bull. This afternoon, I had received two text (SMS in Singaporean lingo) messages from relatives abroad breaking the news of Manny winning his fight over Morales within 3 rounds only. Ah, the news made me smile all right, oblivious of the quizzical looks from the people around me while we were inside the MRT train.

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Meanwhile...

I was checking with other online news here, such as Channel NewsAsia, if they've picked up the news of Manny's winning the boxing match. Apparently the site did not mention anything about it. I even checked on their (apparently) latest news tab for (supposedly) recent events that happened in Asia (ehem, isn't the site named Channel NewsAsia?). I checked out their Sport section for any news about the fight, but alas, even this section did not anything about it. I've even used the site's search option and - tadah - as expected no Manny Pacquiao fights mentioned. The only Philippine related news to be cited is that of Imelda Marcos launching her (infamous) fashion collection to her "fellow Filipino". It's not interesting news at all, if you ask me. Who cares about her jewelries and stuffs (non-Filipinos I assume, or those who still have affinity with Madam Imelda Marcos). What the Philippines wants is justice and reparation for the damages done during the Marcos regime.

Bear with me here. I still flip out when other foreigners still know little of the Philippines (which they sometimes they fondly call as "Manila" as if it is a registered name for a country). Or that we once ruled by a dictator they knew only as "Marcos". Or that we had a movie actor for a president. Or... whatever...

November 16, 2006

Banda Fantastika Event

I had a great time with fellow officemates as we enjoyed listening to some featured Filipino bands playing at Gashaus Music Cafe (there were 9 bands overall, but I only started to watch at the time when my friends and their bands started their turn on the stage).

And here are some pictures during the event:

Launchbox Gig at Gashaus, Banda Fantastika!

Launchbox band. Fellow officemates Ivan playing the bass guitar (left) and Titan playing the electric guitar (right). You should already be familiar with their band since I posted about them at this post.

GuitarPlay by Launchbox, Banda Fantastika!

Close up of guest vocalist Jolly, and Titan jamming it up at his electric guitar. You know what, I should be getting some payment for advertising their band here. Joke, hehehe.

Dance, dance revolution for the band, Banda Fantastika!

Ok, some guy went in front of the stage and began to dance like a "high" or drunken person. But gyrated all over the place, and yet everyone loved his antics. Soon other people joined in the craze - jumping, head-banging, and going around in circles with each other.

Camera here, camera there, Banda Fantastika!

There are lots of other people taking pictures during the event. I caught these two at one corner of the jam-packed room: an unidentified guy pointing his camera at the audience (back) and Ardi (front), another officemate, filming Launchbox's gig (FYI: Ardi is Indonesian; I was amazed that he can sometimes converse and even playfully joke with us in Tagalog).

Mr. Brosnan? at Gashaus, Banda Fantastika!

Here is another band, Mr. Brosnan?, a Filipino modern rock band. I liked their performance of Radiohead's High & Dry.

Quiverpool at Gashaus, Banda Fantastika!

Another Filipino band, rending popular foreign and local songs acoustic style, Quiverpool.

Backwater at Gashaus, Banda Fantastika!

Titan has his own band too, Backwater. One memorable song played by the band is Hole's Malibu.

Pinoy crowd enjoying their stay at Banda Fantastika!

The rambunctious Pinoy crowd truly enjoying their gimmick from three in the afternoon till late at night. Every time a band ends their music, everyone could hear from this group a girl shouting, "I love you Jobert (or Yobert?)" with a quick reply "May asawa na yan" (That guy is already married) or "Kanina pa iyan ah..." (roughly translated: You've just said it a while ago...). Ah, the Filipino crowds - always know how to have a good time.

Pinoy crowd (and others) at Banda Fantastika!

Other Filipino people crowding the stairs and surrounding the bar area. Everyone's keen on listening to good rock songs both in English and Tagalog. The most memorable songs played during the night were "Noypi" by Bamboo and "The Ordertaker" by Parokya ni Edgar. Especially the latter song, where every Filipino individual who were enticed and caught by the funny lyrics of Parokya ni Edgar sang along with the band that belted this song. I saw two British (or American?) guys at the stairs who at first thought the music being played is Chop Suey by System of a Down (since The Ordertaker is a local spoof of that English rock song). When both guys suddenly heard different lyrics coming from the band, they looked at each other with astonishment, whilst every Pinoy individual were shouting, singing and laughing along with the music. Then they saw some Filipinos converging in front of the stage and began to mosh around, head bang, with some playfully taking off their shirts like street loosed drunks. They began taking pictures of the happy riot, obviously enjoying at how Filipinos really dig the bands and explode in delightful frenzy.

Keith, the owner and manager of the place, responded well on "how good the bands are that night" and everyone is enjoying their stay. If he only knew well enough, and other Singaporeans, that Filipinos are known for music, talented singers, and excellent local bands. The Philippines has a very rich culture when it comes to music and entertainment. And (ehem), we can sing English songs quite eloquently.

And here's a complimentary short video of Launchbox, playing "Ligaya", originally sang by the Eraserheads.

November 07, 2006

The Dragon Boat Race

Before I begin anything, this post marks the switch over of this blog to Blogger beta.

I'm still learning to get use to some new features of this blog like labels (and the sudden crash that happened a while ago while writing this long post, so I had to redo everything. As in everything... Thanks, but no thanks Blogger and Microsoft!)

So on we go...
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The race was held in Jurong Lake, Chinese Garden.

It's my first time to participate in a dragon boat race. Actually, it's indeed my first time to row for a dragon boat team. Our office department team has some first-timers in a dragon race (like me). So it was a privilege to be invited to join the team; I've been wooed before by an officemate to be a part of the office's dragon boat team.

During the first round, I've been assigned to row at the port side of the boat (left that is). We had a good start, and soon left our competitors behind our wake. We placed first and guaranteed ourselves to the finals.

In the second round, we had to make changes to give chance to other team members to row. I was one of the chosen to be replaced, so I had the chance to take my camera with me and shoot the following pictures.

Our Team Start

That is our boat. Number 4. The team had a struggled start during the finals round.

Go Team Four

In this picture, it's hard to determine whether our boat (number 4) is leading or lagging to number 5. Surprisingly, we placed second. Seems to me we placed third based on this picture. I had to ran along the shoreline just to be able to catch up and have a good position in taking pictures of our dragon boat.

Placing second is still quite achievement. Compare that to last year's department's position which is second to the last. Indeed, quite an improvement. Consider that we only had two weeks of training. No, make it specifically two Sundays only of training.

Notice the only color available for life vests is pink. Pink, and more pink. Even during training days we had no choice but to don pink life vests. The favorite color of local dragon boaters here is pink. Lah.

Dragon Boat Race

In between breaks, I had the chance to take some pictures of other participants, such as this.

Slaying The Dragon

...and someone took out the dragon head from one of the boats and just laid it out on the grass...

Other pictures:

Gateway

This is a Chinese gateway to...

Kois Galore

...Koi fishes inside. And more Koi fishes.

Eh, did someone fart?

The stone guards near the gateway. Seems the rightmost guard has asked his collegues if one of them has farted (from the expression of his face, the smell got into his system). And looks like one felt guilty (hint: stooping down).

Chinese Tower

Before I exited the park's main entrance, I chanced upon this magnificent seven storey pagoda.

What Are You Looking At?

Also I noticed this pigeon perched on one of the post of the red wooden bridge along the main entrance. As if the pigeon is asking me, in a quizzical manner, "what are you looking at?".

Crane And Crows

I couldn't resist taking this picture before I finally left the park's premises. I saw this interesting scene wherein some murder of crows (or conspiracy of ravens?) and siege of herons (also not sure) gather in the huge expanse of grassland surrounding the park. Reminds me so much of the Filipino saying Pagputi ng uwak, pagitim ng tagak(English translation: When the crow turns white, when the heron turns white). Isn't it?

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Known to be the webmaster of the defunct Taym Matsing website (well, that's old news now...)