Come Enjoy This Lonely Sky With Me

Eiffel Tower view from Place du Trocadéro

2012-01-30T04:33:00.000+08:00

The Place du Trocadéro (Metro Stop: Trocadéro) is where one can get a full view of the Eiffel Tower and its environs from afar. I realize that most of the tour buses stop here, hence the place is packed with so many people who hang around and take snaps in the short (or long) time that their tour directors allow them to.

The sun was almost setting and the harsh shadows didn't make for good pictures. We sauntered and tried taking pictures for a good hour or so, watched the breakdancers perform and took more pictures.

It was time for dinner and we found ourselves at Schwartz's, a diner / deli that looked a lot less intimidating than the other restaurants in the area.
That ends our first full day in Paris.

Paris Rive Gauche / Left Bank

2012-01-27T04:49:00.000+08:00

From Jardin du Luxembourg we walked leisurely towards the Seine-- passing the Saint-Germain-des-Prés area still in the 6th arrondisement, and crossing the river to Île de la Cité.

Les Deux Magots, one of the popular cafés in the area, along with Café de Flore. Camus, Sartre, Picasso, and Hemingway used to hang out here.

Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey is Paris' oldest church, we spent some time looking around. I failed to note and see Rene Descartes' ashes, which are kept here.

We walk some more and get to a lively shopping street- I presume that it is Rue de Buci. There are so many people on a Sunday; no good photos from there, sadly. We queue to get gelato at Amorino, and it's one of the best I've had from the trip, even better than those I've tried in Italy. We walk some more and see Voltaire's statue, and we finally reach the Seine.

The Paris Boquinistes- books and souvenirs sellers by the Seine. Such vendors have been here since the 1500s, and the best spots are given by seniority.

Crossing Pont des Arts, a wide pedestrian bridge that has become a popular place for couples to leave padlocks to the railing.

Scenes from the banks of the Seine.

We reach Île de la Cité, literally the center of Paris, the island where Notre Dame stands. Taking the metro to Trocadero to finally see the Eiffel Tower. Here are two shots from the Cité metro stop. The second is a photo of the 'metro innards,' if you will. Dark and grimy. This is all you see when the trains pass the underground passageways.

Jardin du Luxembourg

2011-12-11T23:06:00.001+08:00

The Luxembourg Gardens (Jardin du Luxembourg) is a part of our Left Bank walk. It's a massive 22+ hectare leafy public space in the 6th arrondisement. Marie de Medici opened the gardens along with the construction of the Palais du Luxembourg, which now houses the French Senate. (As an aside, we visited Florence after and learned more about the Medicis-- very interesting stuff for me.)

There are plenty of works of art to gaze at-- fountains, statues, and of course, people.

It's a great place to people watch, in the warmer months sunbathers flock here, families go on picnics, kids have fun at the carousel, sandbox, marionette shows, or play with the little sailboats at the fountain. It's best to find a shady spot and watch the people go by. Ernest Hemingway claimed to have survived the dreary winters by catching pigeons here.

A nice Asian girl thought we were Chinois (the first of many times), we took each others' photographs.

Eglise St-Sulpice

2011-12-04T23:32:00.001+08:00

Eglise St-Sulpice, officially the first stop of our Paris trip. We took the metro from our flat on the 13th arrondisement to the St-Sulpice metro stop and walked to the church. It was a Sunday and we meant to hear mass as well.

134 years in the making

I've taken a slight fascination with Eugène Delacroix, mainly because of Liberty Leading the People / La Liberté guidant le peuple (you know, from that Coldplay album cover)-- for a time it was on my bucket list and a few days into our trip I finally saw the real thing at the Louvre. This church has plenty of his paintings, which he managed to complete just before his death, while battling illness.

Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, Eugène Delacroix; St-Sulpice facade

Another thing that St-Sulpice is famous for is its mention in the Da Vinci Code. I've read this book many years ago and I barely remember anything about it now, only the fact that it was entirely believable to the common person. Most Dan Brown fans come here to see the meridian line / gnomon, which is actually a 16th century astronomical device that tells exact time of the Summer and Winter Solstice; but in truth, it does not actually follow the mythical "Rose Line." The church even posted a warning of this false claim.

We also stayed a bit after mass for the organ concerto. Pardon my untrained ear, but it sounded to me like the kind of music one would play in a film while Dracula is about to bite into the fleshy bosom of a young maiden. Or something like that.

One of the world's largest pipe organs- with 6,700 pipes; Saint Jean Baptiste de la Salle, founder of mon école

Take Me Away

2011-12-04T03:08:00.001+08:00

It has been close to six months since my last real trip and I meant to write about it in detail, mainly for myself, so I won’t forget. The perennial excuse is-- everything else gets in the way; laziness, above all. I wish I have a chance to break this routine of work - home –occasional eating out. My next planned trip is still five months from now, and I’ve been saving up since July. Quite looking forward to seeing my third continent, and dear friends. I still don’t have a visa and a flight for the first leg so I hope I won’t jinx it.

I checked my blogger profile, apparently I have been on this thing since 2000. That is eleven years ago! Right now there's tumblr and twitter and most kids are into those things these days. During "our time" blogger was the cool thing. I also remember before blogger, online publishing tools didn’t really exist and I had to manually hand-code "diary" entries and upload via a free hosting site. I am that ancient.

Dark Was the Night

2011-11-14T01:47:00.001+08:00

I had a terrible day. We say it all the time.
A fight with the boss, the stomach flu, traffic.
That's what we describe as terrible when nothing terrible is happening.
:
:
These are the things we beg for. A root canal, an IRS audit, coffee spilled on our clothes.
When the really terrible things happen, we start begging a god we don’t believe in to bring back the little horrors and take away this.
It seems quaint now, doesn't it?
The flood in the kitchen, the poison oak, the fight that leaves you shaking with rage.
Would it have helped if we could see what else was coming?
Would we have known that those were the best moments of our lives?

- Grey's Anatomy Season 8, Episode 9 (Dark Was the Night)

Bill Cunningham New York

2011-10-13T01:13:00.001+08:00

I've seen 57 movies this year and this by far is the best and most unforgettable one. I loved it so much that I've seen it two times in a row; and I would see it again and again.

I have never heard of Bill Cunningham before this, and I am glad to know that someone out there made such an excellent movie on the life and work of this octogenarian fashion photographer. Such a humble gentleman for someone with so much talent and heart. Even Anna Wintour speaks highly of him, and that says a lot.

There are a handful of heartwarming scenes but my favorite part would be his interview at the "upscale" Parisian cafe. We find out that his uniform of choice is a 20-dollar smock bought from the department store, the very same one the street sweepers wear, and he would wear it everywhere from the streets of New York to runway shows and society events. He takes his heart pills from an envelope, and claims that despite the extravagance of the fashion world which he is a part of, he goes for very down-to-earth basic things. And it's so ironic and striking, to know someone like Bill who devoted all his life to photographing fashion and beauty and extravagance yet he manages to live without any manner of wastefulness or excess. I'm grappling for words and I probably did not get the right point across, I think if you saw the film, you would get what i mean.

Manila to Paris

2011-08-01T23:33:00.003+08:00

I’ve been dreaming of Paris the longest time. I don’t think I need to explain my fascination with this city. Paris is... Paris. I guess you can say that I'm a pseudo-Francophile. I envied friends and random people who have been there; I’d look at photos, read blog posts, books, wishing I could do the same thing. I realised it was about time I make this thing happen, at this point in my life. I know myself too well— I didn’t take action now it would never happen for me.

So I dragged my good friend Angela to be a part of this little dream of mine, and fortunately she had been wanting to go somewhere outside of Asia too. And so we spent a loong time planning— she works overseas so we did everything online. For a year we shared hundreds of emails, budget spreadsheets, twitter DMs, Google documents, travel ebooks, dropbox photos, links. A year of planning might be too much for a short trip, but we were working on a specific budget and this left us with limited choices. We also did everything ourselves (except for our Best of Tuscany day tour)... flights, train and museum bookings, visa application, accommodations, and the itinerary.

I saved up for more than a year, so by the time our travel date came along, I had enough to pay for the trip. Angela chose the date: Friday, May 27, 2011. And we planned everything around that. Sixteen days, two countries. Paris – Giverny – Versailles – Florence – Siena – San Gimignano – Pisa – Rome. We spent weeks deciding which airline / flight to take. We spent even more time looking for nice apartments. Hostels would be the cheapest option you would say, but we still are not comfortable with the idea of sharing rooms with random people. We are also shy people, at the end of the day we are tired from all the walking and the last thing we want is unnecessary small talk and socializing.. haha.

In hindsight I regret being too whiny and moody, especially in the middle of our stay in Paris. I recall not enjoying Musee d’Orsay because I was too tired, but we did manage to look at almost everything there! Finding our way to the Louvre from our flat also proved to be a challenge, so by the time we reached the massive museum (there are 65,000+ pieces and it would actually take months to see everything), we were too tired to enjoy the exhibitions. The weather has been so erratic and it can get from what feels like 14C to 32C just in one day. The crowds and the waiting also put a damper to one's spirits, we came well-prepared, but even the special lines we were on require a relatively long waiting time. Now that we've covered the 'Paris essentials,' I'm sure I would enjoy my next visit more, by focusing on the food and the less touristy places.

The best surprise is knowing how nice and helpful Parisians are. Everyday people come up to us offering help-- we had locals help us haul our suitcases up and down the metro stairs, we also got help on directions and train ticket / turnstile problems.

Overall, I really did like the atmosphere of Tuscany / Rome better. People are generally relaxed and life seemed to be slower. It really feels like a nice place to live in. Perhaps it's also because of our travelling pace, we had planned on seeing a lot of paid attractions in Paris which we crammed in four days.

I especially enjoyed our visits at Mercato Centrale (you actually read it as CHEN-traleh) in Florence. I loved looking at all the food and getting free samples. Limoncello from Sorrento, hands down the best balsamic vinegar from Modena, cantucci, fresh pecorino romano and parmigiano reggiano, crackers topped with truffles... it was really such a joy and a good learning experience.

Thank you Lord for this trip. I won't stop dreaming of bigger places and I cannot wait to go and see more of the world. I know by now that this is really one of my passions. I look forward to more trips, getaways, beautiful things to behold, experiences to cherish, and lessons to learn.

P.S. Took a while to post this because I am not comfortable sharing too much information online anymore. I will probably take it down sooner or later... or not. If you are planning a similar trip I'd be happy to help if you have any questions =)

"The dream journey of my twenties"

2011-06-24T00:15:00.001+08:00

"We have so many personal reasons to travel, and it’s never completely the same every time. Who you’re traveling for, how their reaction will be like to a certain experience, sharing happiness. What you’re traveling for, hoping that the journey will change you, so that upon your return, it’s easier to face whatever you’re running away from. To travel further than anywhere you’ve been to, not just in terms of foreign places, but also the interior of your own beating heart. To know what’s missing from you, what you need to learn, what you are capable of, what you want to do, to be humbled again, to feel awake. Too many reasons, and they’re all compelling."
-- P.H.

Engagement

2011-01-20T03:11:00.000+08:00

I tagged along in an engagement shoot and realised there are so so many things I need to learn, and I have to stop winging it especially in indoor scenes. I was reviewing the pictures after and most of the images have severely uneven lighting, and if I were a paying customer this should be unacceptable. The images could have been worse without the assistance from H who lent us most of the equipment and set up the flash. So many things to learn, I look forward to improvement in the days and weeks to come.

Hôtel de Ville de Saigon / By the City Hall

2010-12-09T04:44:00.000+08:00

Rambutan

2010-09-29T00:16:00.000+08:00

More from Thien Hau

2010-09-28T17:59:00.002+08:00

Thien Hau Pagoda

2010-09-19T00:04:00.003+08:00

On a short trip to Ho Chih Minh, I was especially interested in seeing this temple because I wanted to photograph these incense coils.

What I Wish For Myself

2010-09-12T00:36:00.001+08:00

For what it’s worth: it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There’s no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

i know a lot about closing doors but not enough about what opens up yours

2010-07-19T01:10:00.002+08:00

100MB
http://hotfile.com/dl/54272036/8189b19/July_2010.zip.html or
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gnprvk

Needtobreathe - Something Beautiful (3:40)
Andrew Belle - Oh My Stars (5:02)
Gary Go - Engines (3:55)
Our Family Name - Broken Down Bodies (3:15)
Paolo Nutini - Last Request (3:40)
Minus The Bear - Pachuca Sunrise (3:35)
Shelby Lynne - Wall in your Heart (3:37)
Owen - One Of These Days (3:41)
Eels - It's A Motherfucker (2:14)
José González - Hand on Your Heart (3:49)
Jets to Brazil - Sweet Avenue (5:14)
Mat Kearney - All I Have (4:49)
Maria Mena - I'm In Love (2:58)
Rhett Miller - Come Around (4:11)
Rachael Yamagata - Be Be Your Love (4:15)
Teitur - I Was Just Thinking (3:31)
The Reindeer Section - Your Sweet Voice (4:46)
Meiko - How Lucky We Are (2:51)
Alexi Murdoch - All My Days (4:59)
Newsboys - Something Beautiful (3:50)

chansons pour un rêve

2010-06-11T18:46:00.001+08:00

http://www.sendspace.com/file/j6bjay
95.21MB

Emilie Simon - La Vie En Rose
Madeleine Peyroux & William Galison - J'Ai Deux Amours
Anais - Mon coeur Mon amour
Michael Giacchino - Le Festin
Yael Naim - Paris
Nouvelle Vague - Aussi Belle Ou Une Balle
Angélique Kidjo - Ne Me Quitte Pas (If You Go Away)
Carla Bruni - Quequ'un M'a Dit
Emily Loizeau - (Je Suis) Jalouse
DeVotchKa - Viens Avec Moi
Zazie - Duo (Avec Paolo Nutini)
Thomas Fersen - Au Café de La Paix
Charles Trenet - Que Reste T-Il De Nos Amours
Feist - La Meme Histoire
Fredrika Stahl - Pourquoi Pas Moi
Olivia Ruiz - La Femme Chocolat
The Stills - Retour a Vega
Coeur De Pirate - Comme Des Enfants
Emilie Simon - Chanson De Toile
Nat King Cole - L.O.V.E. (French version)
Yann Tiersen - La valse d'amelie
Hey Marseilles - Marseilles
Pomplamoose - La Vie En Rose

April 2010 happy mix

2010-04-27T15:45:00.002+08:00

download

:)

Vigan

2010-04-27T13:08:00.002+08:00

Oh Jens

2010-04-01T01:42:00.006+08:00

Jens Lekman is my favourite musician ever. He calms me like no other, takes me to a better place. He writes and plays with no pretenses. Just heartfelt music. About slicing avocadoes and spilling beer all over the atmosphere and dancing the funky chicken. And sweet sweet love.

The genre is described as Swedish Indie Pop (but he sings mostly in English); it may not be for everyone, as I don't even know a soul who likes him as much as I do. For the longest time I had to content myself with downloads and bootlegs, but a couple of years later, Jens FINALLY finds himself in Manila. How incredibly special it is to be in a room full of people who seem to know and love his work as much as I do.

What a lovely lovely show.

30.Mar.2010 SaGuijo Jens Lekman setlist:

Sipping On The Sweet Nectar
Sweet Summer's Night on Hammer Hill
An Argument With Myself
Put Your Arms Around Me
It Was A Strange Time In My Life
Black Cab
Sylvia (with Erlend Øye)
The End Of The World Is Bigger Than Love
Postcard to Nina
Golden Key
The Opposite of Hallelujah
Into Eternity
Sipping on the Sweet Nectar (repeat)
Maple Leaves
You Are The Light
I Remember Every Kiss
Pocketful of Money (encore)

31.Mar.2010 NBC Tent Jens Lekman setlist:

Sipping On The Sweet Nectar
Postcard To Nina
Sweet Summer's Night On Hammer Hill
Argument With Myself
(new song about Erica)
It Was A Strange Time In My Life
Black Cab
The End Of The World Is Bigger Than Love
Golden Key
The Opposite of Hallelujah
Into Eternity
Sipping On The Sweet Nectar (Repeat)

The Kings of Convenience show was also great. No pictures from the unfortunately, even if we were near the stage, how stupid of me. Erlend Øye is such a strange, adorable, talented creature.

31.Mar.2010 NBC Tent Kings of Convenience Setlist:

Until You Understand
Cayman Islands
Love Is No Big Truth
Don't Know Where I Can Save You From
(?)
Me Inside You
Sing Softly To Me
Rule My World
Mrs. Cold
Peacetime Resistance
Boat Behind
Renegade
Misread
I'd Rather Dance With You (With Jens Lekman and Raquel on tambourines)
Justin Timberlake Song (encore)
It's My Party - Lesley Gore Cover (encore)
Homesick (encore)

Change is hard, I should know.

2010-01-26T19:58:00.002+08:00

Ngayon pa lang, eh.

Sidetrip

2010-01-23T01:21:00.004+08:00

This was such a long time ago, but I was over the moon when I received a mention over at Mr. Howie Severino's GMA Sidetrip blog.

12.2009

2010-01-22T19:15:00.003+08:00

I made a little mix for someone and just thought I'd share it, in case anyone's interested. The OneRepublic track seems to be out of place, but I love the violin strains so I included it anyhow.

DOWNLOAD (sendspace)

01 Athlete - Light The Way
02 Howie Day - Be There
03 The Damnwells - Closer Than We Are
04 Weezer - Put Me Back Together
05 Greg Laswell - How The Day Sounds
06 Ra Ra Riot - Can You Tell
07 Jimmy Eat World - Closer
08 Jens Lekman - Your Arms Around Me
09 Moneen - Believe
10 OneRepublic - Secrets
11 Death Cab For Cutie - Long Division
12 Train - Parachute
13 City and Colour - The Girl
14 Badly Drawn Boy - Silent SIgh
15 Joshua Radin ft. Ingrid Michaelson - Sky
16 Matt Pond PA - Measure 3
17 The Whitest Boy Alive - Don't Give Up
18 Snow Patrol - The Planets Bend Between Us

Concerts, Pilipinas 2010

2010-01-17T23:58:00.002+08:00

I am willing to skip The Killers (I only loved the first album), Owl City (has become too popular with the kids), and Paramore (not really a favourite), but I wouldn't want to miss Kings of Convenience. I have a crush on Erlend Øye even if I cannot say his name correctly.

Happy 2010.

2010-01-05T12:17:00.000+08:00