Work with pressing deadlines were hurled my way like scuds at desert storm during the past week. An officemate from far-away could not have stated it better when she summarized in a word what had been keeping her on her toes albeit expectations from our demanding job: dedication. For me, it's the absence of an offer for a better paying job and the hope that things will normalize and get better if I stay on. Also, there's the glimmer of hope of getting another raise as I deem it to fit my tab. Everything would be ok if I were paid equitably for the things I do on the daily. More importantly, for the things I do beyond those embodied in the job description of the position I occupy. They now call me creative director, AKA a very gifted and talented person on the arts (music, graphics, multi-media, project aesthetics, layout, feature writing, etc, blah blah blah) that the department is lucky enough to have. I'll bet my ass they would not find anyone who could top what I put on the table as a single individual with the pay rate I'm getting. Not to be misconstrued, I'm paid rather well for the regular job I should only be doing, that is. Several people, maybe, but not a single individual who had not only specialized but who was also lucky enough to be born with over-flowing creative juices. Oh yeah, I'll bet my ass on that for sure.
I, plus several others, have grown to accept that what we do is thankless. I could live with that. But tired is what I am right now. My eyes hurt. My stomach churns unhappily to the intense tune of Jimi Hendrix's Fire. That and I have a 3-week worth laundry in my room that I'm too tired to fold up and take to the laundromat. Oh, and Emily, our helper, had not visited for more than a month now due to some sickness that had affected her family which lends the house an air of primal chaos.
On a much lighter and non-venting-of-heavy-feelings-and-frustrations side, an officemate is again leaving for an expat assignment to neighboring Hong Kong. A despedida party was held and the creative director, cue me, was again called to step up. I mixed several 80s music with shounds of people booing, cymbals, and random noises to fill the gap between horrible jokes that the leaving officemate so enthusiastically hurled our way in the past. We had all only found out in the past week that we shared the same opinion about the substandard nature of the jokes. It's either that or the delivery was not quite ok, they say, but it was pretty obvious that the jokes were horrific. I'll spare you the punchlines. Believe me, you would not ever want to hear them.
The 80s music had been served and I quite enjoyed my find via the link on the title of this post. I got some Milli Vanilli, Ice Ice Baby, Push It, Asi Me Gusta Mi (more popularly known as Extacy Extano), and Mony Mony. The tunes were so old-schoolishly old that you would want to flush your ears with a dose of heavy metal to rid you of the nostalgia. Aweful tasting nostalgia, that is, but fun. I had a wicked time listening to the full tracks.
Below are some tracks I reserched that made a cover of some popular 80s music. These versions are fused with rock so you get a new experience while reliving the old memories.
Ice Ice Baby
Heavy Metal remake still by Vanilla Ice
Walk Like An Egyptian
originally by the Bangles, cover by Against All Authority
This might sound like a hardcore Supernova fan entry but I have started posting the original versions with the last blog and I'm having a hard time collating my thoughts on an entry I had been labouring on for a week now.
It must have been a total high for Zayra to have her original song debut with that kickass arrangement courtesy of the house band and a string quartet. I actually got chills with that song in an it-doesn't-really-matter-if-the-song-doesn't-suit-Supernova-at-all manner. It was her last chance, apparently, and she did real well.
With the exception of Zayra's original, below are the songs as done by their original artists (that, again, or their more popular remakes). You know the drill. Additional links to relevant literature from wikipedia.
Disclaimer: all tracks featured on this post are for evaluation purposes only. Rights to the tracks remain with the artists and the record labels they are representative to. Low resolution tracks featured here will be taken down upon request. Additional link on literature from www.wikipedia.com
Cable TVs still busted and someone's got to be real creative in order to not miss a weekly episode of something you look forward to going home to in a particular day of the week. Mine is Rockstar: Supernova. There's something more real in the setup of this program compared to other talent reality shows that got me hooked. One's the behind-the-scenes portion that takes as much time as the actual audition process. It makes the viewers care more and have a more tangent connection with the persons they see and it's something I consider, for want of a better term, subliminal. Makes watching more meaningful. Emo kid.
What I do is download the videos and mp3s of their performance to my PPC so I could get to watch the cuts I like over and over without even having to wait for the scheduled replay on very late the same night. For the reality bit, as they are not really available for download, I get them via the link above, the official Rockstar Supernova site hosted at MSN.
Below are the originalartists' rendition (or another cover version but not done by the contestant) of what each of all 10 contestants sang on this week's episode. Want to hear who really nailed it and who got to redrum the songs? Click away, listen, and you be the judge. As an added extra, click on the links by the rockstar contestant's names and be led somewhere else.
Disclaimer: all tracks featured on this post are for evaluation purposes only. Rights to the tracks remain with the artists and the record labels they are representative to. Low resolution tracks featured here will be taken down upon request.
There has been quite a stir in the Philippine graphic novel loving community at the inception and just-culmination of UNMASKED: The 1st Philippine Graphic/Fiction Award sponsored by Neil Gaiman in close cooperation with Fully Booked. The contest was launched sometime in October of 2005 with the actual award ceremony held on July 15, 2006 at the Rockwell tent. The link for the video below was sent to Neil via email by one of the minds behind the intro-animation shown at the event proper. One named Jason Tan.
It was just a little over a year ago when me and Ainna and a batallion of her graphic novel loving friends joined hoardes more of Gaiman-fans from all over the country if only for a glimpse or a chance to have personal copies of novels and comics and whatnots signed by one of the greatest living minds in the known world. The video reminds me more of how it is to have witnessed, first hand, what Neil meant by "wall of sound."
Thanks Jason Tan and company for sharing your masterful craft to those of us who have not been keen on following The 1st Philippine Graphic/Fiction Award.
At this early stage, people's votes have poured over at a Rockstar Supernova fansite to give the following results: This week is particularly surprising. Had you watched tonight's performance episode, you'd know what I mean which is reason enough for me to change my KTV playlist genre to rock. I'm now in the process of salvaging tunes off their CDs so I could listen and sing to them over and over again to perfection. Anyone wanna challenge me to a sing-off? Anyone?!
This week's featured music is a five-song selection from prior weeks' song choices in the competition. All done by thier original artists, of course. Should you want something else in particular, leave me a message.
People process thoughts at a pace: one after another. They could either be simple or complex, oftentimes formless. Some with hyper metabolic rates have a thought process pace that is faster than others. Crazies have random thoughts that do not go through normal processing and the pace could overlap giving it no sense at all. Pluck a single thought, give it form through words, mesh it with other related thoughts, and you get a blog.
I want to be lots of things, mostly fictional. Sometimes I space out thinking I'm cool and smart and witty, and I think I'm doing a great job having others think that way, too. And I know you think all these are just crap! I'll drink to that! Cheers!
<h2 class="sidebar-title">Top Hits Jukebox</h2>
<p><center><b>click on a track below</center></b></p>
<p><center><embed allowScriptAccess="never"src="http://pre-made-playlists.50webs.com/player.swf" menu="false" quality="high" style="filter:none" bgcolor="EEEEEE" bgcolor="000000" width="260" height="300" name="index" allowScriptAccess="never" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" flashvars="playList=http://pre-made-playlists.50webs.com/poqbum_playlist10001.xml&ShowPlaylist=1&ShowEQ=1&firstTrack=40&initVol=100" wmode="transparent" /></embed></center></p><p><center><a href="http://www.poqbum.com">Click HERE to get a Music Player</a></center></p>
