yoootube babies…some flashback goodness

HOW I COULD JUST KILL A MAN / Cypress Hill

As mentioned on my About page…I’m all about divergent musical tastes. Quite simply, I just grew up that way and the different genres I’ve gotten into have contributed to different stages in my life.

Cypress Hill, babies.

I miss LA, I really do. It may have been a lifetime ago but a lot of memories from when I was a teen are as fresh as a hot shower with a sensorial exfoliating gel. LA is where I learned to love beats, adore the Lakers, dream of the Dodgers, embrace the combination of dry heat and wind chill on the same day, shop on Melrose, girls girls girls, sneaker sneakers sneakers, the game of football, graffiti appreciation, the running man, real lifelong friends and LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow on PBS, among countless other things.

1991 was the year Cypress Hill hit the scene. 8th grade, a whole lotta khakis going on and earphones were a constant accessory. Back then it was all about the college hoodies and beanies (Georgetown, Michigan, Syracuse), Starter caps of the black and silver LA squads (Kings/Raiders), Huarache runners, big jackets, Chevy Impalas, Ford Escorts, Honda CRXs and Preludes, tagging and bragging and a whole lot of posturing for the girls. As I look back I’ve always wondered what I would be like today had I remained.

Anyways, going back to Cypress Hill…talk about redefining the gangster rap era. We already had NWA, Ice T and DJ Quik setting the tone for west coast gangster rap as well as Kid Frost and Mellow Man Ace asserting themselves as pioneers in latino rap. B-Real, Sen Dog and DJ Muggs, though, brought it all to another level, crossing over into the mainstream – in a good way – and paving the way for multi-ethnic artists all over the place. The intro and subsequent popularity of Cypress Hill brought House of Pain, Funkdoobiest and Soul Assassins to the fore and paved the way for collaborations with Rage Against The Machine, Public Enemy, Snoop Dogg, Velvet Revolver and others. And not to mention helping build the relationship between rap and rock.

This track laid the groundwork for a 21-year Cypress presence in music. And yeah, that is Ice Cube (before his beef with B-Real) and Q-Tip of the Tribe in the video. Instant cred, my friend. A truly hard, fierce, and f*cking awesome track.

And yes, it does mean something to me. It’s my TIME TO GO APESHIT ON THE BADMAN track.

Plus a special appearance alongside the Rage…

sgt. pepper’s lonely hearts club band

“No wise man ever wished to be younger.” -Jonathan Swift

THURRRSDAY, 25 SEPT

I don’t know about Jon Swift’s quote up there. Then again, maybe I’m just not that wise. But hey, a quotable quote is always worth posting.

Had a very happy Thursday as my little boy came for a splendid weekend visit and helped make my mom’s birthday a happy one. We took in the sights, sounds and smell of Pepper Lunch in Rockwell. My mother had been wanting to try it out as she had been hearing some raves and was noticing the omnipresent line that gathers outside this fine establishment.

The latest hot shit at Rockwell.

Pepper Lunch is a DIY steak joint that fancies itself as a new trend for the lunch crowd. Of course it took all of 2 minutes for mom to realize that it had a self-serve, order at the counter MO, which did not sit well for a few minutes. Ho hum, have some fun mom. And we did. Some favorite aunts, uncles, cousins (including the infamous Collector) and nephews came to help celebrate the occassion. I had the pepper steak (duh) since I figured it must be the specialty of the house. I was taken aback, however, when I realized that the steak comes on a hotplate and oh – que horror – I actually had to mind the cooking of the slab myself.

Disclaimer: I cannot cook to save my life. I ended up with one well done side combined with a rare underbelly – a bit of a mishmash of chewy, juicy and tough. Hmmm. Tasted fine though, but I think I preferred Bup’s chicken rice meal. Bup is Sebastien, my son…he used to say Bup quite often and I thought that was pretty cute, so Bup my secret monicker for the tyke.

The food was tasty and the piped-in music upbeat and quirky, but in a good way. Bothered mother a bit, but had to point out that it is perhaps the point of the joint. Really only had 2 problems: a) that icky, sizzling hotplate, garlicky smell that sticks to your clothing for hours and hours and b) some family took one of the 2 precious high chairs available. I have an 18 month old nephew and of course Bup was in the house – so this did not sit well. Sneaky family. They had a stroller so they could have made without the high chair you know. Pfft. Foreigners. Haha.

All around, we had a great night. I washed down my steak with some Mrs. Field’s action, semisweet goodness to tickle the tummy.

TOTAL DAMAGE – Pepper steak, a half bowl of the chicken meal, a semisweet cookie, a stolen high chair and that ridiculous smell.

LIGHTS OUT – 0200 (I think)

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT – “Heard you want to DJ…”

PHOTOS STOLEN FROM - The Nokia N95 8GB Music series mobile, which is starting to come in handy.

youtube find of the f**king week

TARAMASALATA / Eggstone

Eggstone is one of those 90s indie bands whose beautiful compositions and complicated lyrics either a) made your day (Eggstone/Blueboy) or b) depressed you like crazy (paging Trembling Blue Stars). Either way, the tracks are ones to remember. Eggstone in particular makes me want to throw a happy lunch party together on a rainy Sunday afternoon, complete with cheap wine and fancy hors d’oeuvres.

Anyways, check out this ridiculous YouTube video. Some dude who also happens to dig Eggstone got his hands on Adobe Premier and went crazy with the controls. It is just too much. LOL/HAHAHA/all that jazz. It is so dang funny, I want my own. Enjoy.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE - Thanks to Skeletor, again…nice find!

coffee & tv

“Every man has a right to a Saturday night bath.“ -Lyndon B. Johnson

ANOTHER LAZY SATURDAY, 20 SEPT

Well I didn’t exactly get a nice bath on last Saturday, but oh well. The quote is there to kind of exemplify the expectations one has on a typical Saturday – the power and right to do whatever your little heart desires. That’s what Saturday is. The one day where you can seek refuge from an otherwise mundane week. Sunday doesn’t count – that day is spent worrying about Monday. Boo.

Spent this particular Saturday at Salcedo Market again, this time having a go at Filipino food versus last week’s Indonesian fair. Utter fail – was not loving my food, a combination of BBQ and a tilapia-strewn fried rice combo.

A white chocolate mocha, some icey mix, an exotic tea and Mrs. Supergift's aviators. In gold. The only color aviators should be.

Sought respite at the local Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. I have to say CB&TL is my coffee shop of choice these days. Nice interiors, better coffee than Starbucks and pretty good locations. The CB&TL I paid a visit to is my favorite, right across Salcedo Park on Tordesillas Street. Good times. Mrs. Supergift tagged along, spending the next 2 hours listening to me rant and rave about other peoples’ choice of pets and the difference between CONFIRMED and CONFEERMED.

After CB&TL I headed back home to take a nap and sort out the rest of my Saturday. It wasn’t long before I headed out for Salcedo again though, because I had a dinner date with my cousin the Ballerina.

1B signage. The girl sitting directly under this sign thought I was stalking her.

The Ballerina is my sounding board, an eye for eye mirror of myself when it comes to pure complaining. She also loves to eat as much as I do, so it’s always good times. Went to our favorite neighborhood joint, Apartment 1B. Which is particularly convenient for the Ballerina since the 1B is on the ground floor of her apartment building.

The menu at 1B is a short and sweet one, with a nice combination of new eats and good old comfort food. I have heard the chicken wings are fantastic, the sandwiches are delish and the desserts are pretty good – however, my drug of choice is the marlin on pesto with veggies. This dish is effing amazing. I can’t get enough of it. My recommendation should anyone find themselves looking for a fairly healthy, filling and all-around delicious dish at 1B.

The Ballerina and I had a nice heart to heart and after my marlin and a couple brews, I trekked over to Guijo for more of that UDD love. Was an overall excellent night, hung out with my future business partner Not-So-Silent Bob and the Martian and taking in my fav Fil band. UDD has a new album coming up so we like to come out in full support. Waiting for my signed CD, Supergift…

A lousy photo of never lousy UDD..

...and another. I think I should cart a real camera around.

After hours were spent at Hap Chan with Mrs. Supergift, the Martian and the Collector, devouring the garlic fish fillet whilst speculating on the demise of old school adidas people. Where I used to work. Which is a story for another day.

TOTAL DAMAGE – a bunch of beer, the lovely marlin and pesto and garlic fish fillet.

LIGHTS OUT – 0500

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT – “…and he applied at Leo Burnett!!!”

PHOTOS STOLEN FROM - The Nokia N95 8GB Music series mobile, which when combined with me sucks to high heaven.

youtube find of the day

OLYMPIAN / Gene

I first heard this track way back in 1995, sitting at Groove Nation Records with my cousin The Collector, Bossanova Girl Marie and my dear, long lost friend, um…Marimar. Haha, that’s hilarious. The Collector had it on vinyl – of course – and when it first played in-store I thought it was an amazing, epic track and had come just in time at that point in my life. 17, out of school and basically experiencing Manila for the first time. To this day, Gene has remained one of my favorite all-time bands. Yeah they sound like The Smiths, so the f**k what.

Have a watch.

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE - Thanks to Skeletor and her fervent music video searching on YouTube…I think she is one of maybe 12 people I know who share my appreciation for Gene.

sh-sh-shuffle

RANDOMIZE ME, 15 SEPT

I did an iTunes shuffle check last Monday but held off posting it till I got the Monday post out of the way. Am trying to catch up with this blog but it looks like I’m still a week behind.

Anyways here we are, with some notes to boot:

1. Bonita Applebum / A Tribe Called Quest
2. Philadelphia Experiment (Philip Charles Remix) / King Britt
3. Light My Fire (Live) / Massive Attack
4. Charade / Swan Dive
5. Crawling With Idiot / Elbow
   
6. I Just Can’t Get Over Losing You / The Charlatans
7. Obsolete / MC Solaar
8. In Your Eyes / Peter Gabriel
9. Teardrop (Massive Attack Cover) / Elbow
10. Deltron 3030-Positive Contact / Dan The Automator

Bonita Applebum brings me back to junior high and the first signs of romance in my life. Really, really brings back the memories and floods my mind with simpler, happier days. Love those 90s. My cousin The Collector slapped it into a house tape he put together called “The High and Mighty Groovin’ Mix” and mixed in Suzanne Vega’s Tom’s Diner. Will never forget that. Have been down with the Tribe ever since.

Charade is a sweet indie song by relatively obscure Swan Dive, telling a tale of a girl reminiscing about the days with an ex-boyfriend, lamenting the divide between them and commenting on this charade called life. This happens to everyone, am I right? Or not…

In Your Eyes by Peter Gabriel is the heartfelt, cheesy but lovable 80s track from the flick Say Anything with John Cusack and Ione Skye. The track came on during the most memorable scene of the movie, with Johnny Boy raising his boombox above his head to win his girl back. It worked. Too bad it doesn’t always reflect the same in real life. I have to say, John Cusack is the man when it comes to being the quintessential dour, lovelorn lead in a chickflick.

Dan The Automator just rocks it. Beat techniques can’t be beat.

Well, a whole lot of love in that playlist. No comment.

havana affair

A lazy night at a tourist trap…

A TODO CUBA LE GUSTA, 15 SEPT

Before the evening out post, just wanted to offer a sneak peek at how crazy our office is. A colleague is leaving for a post in Malaysia and the send off was crazy. We had a couple colleagues set themselves in a band, calling themselves the “Razerheads” and serenading our exiting colleague with amazingly good renditions of Eraserheads tracks. This event took about an hour by the way, MID-AFTERNOON. Gotta love that. Yes this is my life…

The Razerheads...a truly classic wtf moment.

Got home from that manic Monday at the office and headed straight out with Verse, 1 of my 5 fav siblings. We went on a mission to cruise the sneaker and lifestyle stores in G4, trying to make sense of how the industry is doing. Verse has his own sneaker store and is trying to maximize his potential. Thing about Verse is he is all passion and he works hard to get where he wants to, and I find that pretty inspirational. Gotta love a person with fire in his belly and the drive to succeed.

After an hour of milling around, Verse had to head back and get some work done. I have a day job and he is an entrepreneur. So he doesn’t have a set schedule to clock in to. Which I feel is quite energizing. I’ve got to get on that boat as soon as I can.

Still had some time in the evening to kill, so I figured since Verse was busy perhaps his sisters had some time to spare. Gave Rzar a ring and was looking to do a) Happy Mondays or b) a movie. Headed over to Rockwell to meet the girls at Coffee Bean, to wait out a movie sched but after a few minutes we decide to have a drink instead. Priorities priorities…

El Cubano..

So we decide to forego Happy Mondays and other regular spots and do the touristy thing…Havana. Awesome right. Chilling with the foreign brigade and the hangers-on (you know what I’m talking about) that come with the program. Of course, Rzar and Vick decide that Weng Wengs were the drink of choice for the night so we grab a pitcher of the vile concoction and got down to our life stories.

Nothing better than a nice drink in hand, good company and thought provoking conversations. You discover alot about yourself and you start to shape a new view of life little by little. And then…the 2nd pitcher arrives and all hell breaks loose! Crazy one liners, unfunny jokes and a run for grub followed and before you know it, time has passed by and it was time to call it a night. I remarked to R that we should do this again…show up at unexpected destinations and just soak in the rest of Manila.

The throng...

Zee Wengers...

TOTAL DAMAGE – 2 weng weng pitchers

LIGHTS OUT – 0200

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT – “A toast to…”

PHOTOS STOLEN FROM - The Nokia N95 8GB Music series mobile (plug, plug)

10:15 saturday night

Well last Saturday was especially exciting. Some good food, some laughs, some drinks, some art, some good friends and in the end, some more food.

FRAILTY, 13 SEPT

Had the good fortune to be invited by an old friend, Ziggy, to Cubao X for an art exhibition. Sounded like the perfect way to relax, get out of Makati and enjoy a really great vibe.

Cubao X is tucked away in a little corner of Araneta Center. The venue itself is really quite charming and has become somewhat of an artists’ and musicians’ haven. The surrounding area around it though leaves alot to be desired, being a junction of a whole crapload commuters going northbound, southbound, westbound, eastbound and up-your-ass-bound. It is a nightmare trying to wade through the chaos and it is not a pleasant drive in any way. Not to mention the seemingly always changing traffic rules. I’ve been caught by the MMDA about, oh, 17 times or something because of the most inane and obscure traffic laws in Araneta. Which actually leaves you with this thought – if you were to completely disregard the MMDA, what exactly will they do? They don’t have firearms or anything do they? Will they just chase you on that little motorbike that you can ’swerb’ right into and be on your merry way?

Anyways, back at the farm. After finding hidden treasure AKA a parking slot, I headed into Cubao X to have some grub at Bellini’s. Great eats to be found here, and the prices are pretty reasonable. I bumped into the 2 Carlo’s of men’s high street fashion, which is always really cool because they are two really nice chaps who dress very well and are really quite cool. Ziggy was there too, as well as my old old friend Cecilia.

Dinner was sweet – ordered up some gnocchi and pizza and had some laughs with Ms. Supergift, Shaniqua and the Martian. It’s quite rare to find a place where I don’t mind sitting my restless self in for 2 hours, but it can be done at this spot. Great vibe. Only real dilemma here is that every waiter has some blinders on and have that Reservoir Dogs-like “too fucking busy” look on their panicky faces. So here’s the world’s smallest violin…

Anyways on to the exhibit. Frailty was held at Pablo, this little gallery spot on one side of the expo. The event consisted of 33 female artists showing some solidarity and showcasing their talents to a throng of indie and emo kids. Ziggy’s wife had some of her own work on display and I ran into old college buddy Sharon while there. I can’t think of any single nickname that would work for Sharon, cause when I see or think of her – it’s really just Sharon man.

One of the truly great things about kicking it in the depths of QC is the P30 beer, enabling the throng and myself to knock ourselves out in record time. A band came on that I am not a fan of in any way, but oh well. At least there was sound. Ran into DJ AM – he was milling around on the prowl. DJ AM and I are quite similar in the fact that we bounce from one scene to another and don’t really give two shits about whether we are trendy enough for the sosy set or anticool enough for the indie set. We just want to have a good time, punks! I also ran into my fav DJ in Manila, Caliph. Caliph is always good for a 30 minute rundown on tracks and beats.

After everything was said and done, I decided to grub some more. The Martian, Supergift and I hit a Persian restaurant in Timog (I think). It was some new spot and to be honest, I can’t even recall the name right now. We were hoping to go to Mr. Kebab, but it was really freaking late already and we wanted to just eat and head home. Some highlights include -  a ridiculous menu, rather slow service and some really funny conversation. To be fair, I think the place just opened. So cue the world’s smallest violin…

Some highlights:

Bellini’s is a cozy spot with rather nice lighting, great food and iffy service

One of the many pieces that night..

Sorry I don’t have Photoshop so no rotate right now..

Sharon’s delightful piece..

Another piece..

Love this one..

Lights…

Love these two…

Teeth??

Ziggy’s wife made this one, lovely cutout..

Another..

More and more..

This one looked really cool…

The restless ninja (me) taking a breather…

Our table at Mogwai…good times

Hahahahaha! Persian restaurant item..

The Martian’s crazy keychain, busting the moves on the napkin holder at the Persian spot

TOTAL DAMAGE – 6 or 7 SMB lights, gnocchi, pizza, kebabs

LIGHTS OUT – 0600

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT – “This band sucks.”

PHOTOS STOLEN FROM - Shaniqua, the homegirl.

friday’s dust

Another Friday, another great opportunity for a fubar moment.

FIAMA-MIA FRIDAY, 12 SEPT

This post will obviously be retroactive to the last one, as the Salcedo market visit comes on a Saturday and I waited on someone to provide the photos this time which (ahem) arrived on the following Monday. The lack of chronological order is confusing, but I consider it an apt touch to this weblog.

Anyhoo, the venue of choice on Friday was Fiama. A good friend and colleague is leaving for Singapore very soon and it was decided that his last Friday in the Philippines would be spent at his favorite Friday hangout. Friday at Fiama is all about hiphop, so of course we expected a packed environment.

Had dinner with the 2 of the 5 favorite siblings before heading out for Fiama at about 2300. As soon as I got there I tracked down Alessandro, Silvia, Saori and Samoa. I would give them some pseudonyms but the photos are all facial shots, so forget it. Besides, they are great friends and they lack scandalous genes, so no need to protect them as there wouldn’t be anything indiscreet to say anyways.

Cesca, AJ, Alessandro, Silvia

So far so good. An old college friend, Corinne, showed up too, with 3 people in tow – 2 of whom were German. So we had a bit of an international flavor for the evening, with the Italian Stallion leading the charge.

Jell-O shots, a strange blue mixer and several beers later we were in the mix, hopping around and having a pretty good time. I suppose the only truly out-of-the-ordinary thing to happen that night was running into a friend of mine who I had dated for some time long ago. Some dramatics I’d have to say but nothing huge. Just highly amusing.

TOTAL DAMAGE – 3 SMB lights, 3 weird blue drinks and a couple Jell-O shots for good measure

LIGHTS OUT – 0400

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT – “Wow, you have intimidation skills!”

PHOTOS STOLEN FROM - Office peeps.

Benneton ad: Saori, Samoa, Cesca, Corinne, Silvia

rainy days and (satur)days

SALCEDO SATURDAY, 13 SEPT

Woke up around 1100 today and realized I had a missed call and an sms from Shaniqua, popping the idea of dropping by Salcedo Market for brunch. Sounded great so I rang her back and off we went. The weather was not agreeable at first but who cares – it’s all about the grub.

Some photos to commemorate the first time at the market in months (and I live 5 minutes away):

In spite of rain many market goers turned up

And the sun shows itself

Still a bit wet all around, but as you can see the sun is bouncing off and giving us some pleasant weather. Oooh, my New Balance 576s are looking good!

Hmmmm…sour stuff. Awesome.

My goodies…

Some flowery objects..

More good stuff…

Chopstick lickin good…

Wholly cow…hahaha.

Bagels babies, bagels…

Our grub…we weren’t too hungry.

Alright, so we were a little hungry…