Picture of the Day: Pizza

This was lunch today. Huzzah for pizza!

Music for a pensive Thursday night

Tinseltown in the Rain - The Blue Nile
Blue Light - Bloc Party
Please Stand Up - British Sea Power
Heaven or Las Vegas - Cocteau Twins
Agos - Up Dharma Down
Human Beings - Van Halen
Love Will Find A Way - Yes
Hunger Strike - Temple of the Dog
When We Dance - Sting
Cataract - Sparta

Picture of the Day: Stump

All this cutting down of trees has me stumped.

Ride & Roll: Eats, Art & Rock

Discovered this new place courtesy of good friend John Flores.

It's a restaurant, art gallery, and rock club rolled into one cool joint.

Hmm. I'm sorry that gives the wrong impression. Bwahahaha. But it is a cool place with good taste in art and food.

Ride & Roll is located at #59 Xavierville Avenue (that street is perpendicular to Katipunan Avenue and the immediate street to the right after passing by the flyover heading to Makati from Ateneo).

Ride & Roll is open for lunch and band performances are three times a week so far. They even have a reggae night (Thursdays!).
Check out the pix taken by moi.

Picture of the Day: San Sebastian Church Spires

Please pay attention and do your part!

We are at a critical period of human history. And our response will save lives and future generations.

Heed the message and actively do your part.

Global warming is not only the number one environmental challenge we face today, but one of the most important issues facing all of humanity ... We all have to do our part to raise awareness about global warming and the problems we as a people face in promoting a sustainable environmental future for our planet.

Read this: http://observatory.ph/

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO SEE A HIGHER RESOLUTION IMAGE.

Picture of the day: Santa Barbara Park Tree

Iloilo blue skies and clouds

I've always loved trying to shoot photos of landscapes with a barren blue sky in the background. Going to the province and seeing no tall buildings was a welcome sight for mine eyes sore of metro congestion.

Hope you like these as much as it was a cool sight for me.

This one was shot from outside the municipio of Santa Barbara.

The second photo was taken from the tee line of the Santa Barbara Golf Course, the oldest in the country (built in 1907 by Scottish engineers) and one of the oldest in Asia.

The next one was taken from a bridge after interviewing former footballer Ramsey Padernilla. This one as well as the next hint of the rains to come. It would be scorching hot from the morning to late afternoon before a downpour in the early evening and sometimes lasting up to midnight. It left the roads muddy and the football pitches a battlefield.

The last cloud shot was taken from inside Tito Duffie's SUV on our way to the airport on our way home.

Historic Santa Barbara Church in Iloilo

Last week, I went on a three-day trip to Iloilo to shoot a documentary about football. Of course, there was some sight-seeing. For the travelogue and my diary, check out http://bleachersbrew.blogspot.com/ .

Here you'll be seeing the pix I took that won't make it to that blog.

Santa Barbara has been declared a National Heritage site and that says a lot of how the Church plays a huge role in our country's make up. Perhaps more than any other church, it also was used as the headquarters for Philippine revolutionaries as led by Martin Delgado.

Spanish authorities accorded him commander of the Spanish volunteers and armed the militia not knowing that they had sworn to fight for Philippine Independence.

On October 28, 1898, Delgado and other Illongos enacted their own "Cry of Balintawak" as they tore their cedulas and declared war on Spain. And the Church served as a war room and hospital for the Katipunan.

The Church has been restored but many parts of it still make use of original stones and timber. Our "tour guides" Tito Greg and Kuya Roa pointed out the wooden beams and stones. How were they transported during this time? How many stone blocks were used in the construction of this church? And the bell? It has been there since 1860.

Wow!

As you can see from the pictures it was a beautiful summer day and the sky was resplendent in blue. It really made for great picture taking.

Picture of the Day: Mac Attack

I wrote a letter to Steve Jobs begging him to stop creating iPods, Macbooks, iMacs, and Big Macs.

The iPod is status symbol, desirable creature, and a modern equivalent of a Barbie doll -- you know, you have to get all these accessories.

Geez. It's an epidemic.

Picture of the day: Masterson Drive

A lovely place to walk at dusk.

Picture of the day: Sisig

I'm gonna have me a heart attack with all these.

Picture of the day: Mum's Garden

I love the two garden's of my parents' house. There's one in front and one in the back. This shot is from the fountain in the backyard. Except that the fountain was switched off at this time.

The Majesty and who needs CGI?

You want sweeping epics? Then the BBC's Planet Earth documentary series is one you should watch and own.

The 5-DVD series is now available locally for PhP 750 bucks. That's 9 hours and 16 minutes of great footage about nature and the world around us filmed in high definition and narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

Five years in production, over 2000 days in the field, using 40 cameramen filming across 200 locations, this is the ultimate portrait of our planet. A stunning television experience that combines rare action, unimaginable scale, impossible locations and intimate moments with our planet's best-loved, wildest and most elusive creatures. From the highest mountains to the deepest rivers, this blockbuster series takes you on an unforgettable journey through the challenging seasons and the daily struggle for survival in Earth's most extreme habitats. Using a budget of unprecedented proportions, photography and unique, specially developed filming techniques, Planet Earth takes you to places you have never seen before, to experience sights and sounds you may never experience again.

Thoroughly enjoyable and awe-inspiring it makes you wonder and question what we have done to our world now that it has turned against us.

There's another fantastic series -- The Blue Planet that you might want to get as well.

Picture of the day: Eavesdropping

I kinda not like it when tables are sometimes arranged so close that you can hear everything that the people next to you talk about. Not that you want to but the proximity and the loud voices carry.

I thought that this scene, shot on Black Saturday inside a McDonald's resto was kinda funny.

Shots around Riverbanks

I went walking around Riverbanks in Marikina yesterday today and I watched this airsoft battle going on. I couldn't get close because there were pellets zinging all over the place. And it got me interested in it. When I was with Solar Sports, my friends in the production group would ask me if I wanted to join them and I really did want except I had trouble finding the time.

Soon!

Kinda had fun just walking around and watching people. I sat by the riverside and watched kids flying kites, people riding bikes, or families and lovers having a picnic.

Here's where their story doesn't quite end

As I kicked off my new wave shoes for a more variegated taste in the late 80's, there was one late comer band that I instantly became a fan of... the Sundays. Maybe it was their lo-fi style but Harriet Wheeler's voice was the entrancing one. The Sundays didn't go the way of new wave, they just decided to pack it in despite being critically acclaimed and coming out with some great songs.

And to this day even if my tastes are as eclectic as ever, the Sundays remain a staple in my iTunes and iPod.

My fave songs by the Sundays:
1. Summertime
2. Here's Where the Story Ends
3. You're Not the Only One I Know
4. I Kicked A Boy