under the bright lights

first post

2008-02-05T00:21:00.000+08:00

my first post for this year. hehe. i have been very
busy the past months about so many things. at work,
in ministry, lovelife :), personal stuffs, etc. that
i was not able to blog. even my christmas post was
very short. hehe.

january went so fast and it's already february. i had
so many things to talk about the past month but it is
too personal to write it here. they are really wonderful
moments. :) carnival park went into the rehearsal studio
to record 5 new songs for a split ep. we're almost
finished with the songs, recording is to start this last
week of february. grace period is set to do another set
of recording also. we have completed poslishing 7 4 new
songs and we are going to record it this early summer.

i will post pictures of the new youth band im mentoring.
we started may of last year and they will turn one year
old in the next few months. :)

Merry Christmas

2007-12-26T13:33:00.000+08:00

i forgot to blog. hehe. i bought a new guitar for christmas!

Merry Christmas!

The Lost Art of Kite-Flying

2007-10-30T00:21:00.000+08:00

the kite season peaks in the months of october
and november here in manila. it thrusts into
full gear on the first day of november and it is
the single most important day that i have been
looking forward to when i was a kid. for me it's
more fun than christmas and new year, and i'm
not kidding.

if i were to count the number of kites that i have
made during my childhood years, it would be around
300, maybe even more. this is before i started to
learn how to play guitar, i started playing guitar
when i was thirteen. i can make kites made of
plastic (plastic sa dept store, basura, palengke,
etc), manila paper, newspaper, japanese paper, and
that plastic that they use as yema wrappers. hehe.

somehow the kids discovered some other things to
play with, and unfortunately kite-flying has lost
its audience to family computers and game and
watch (this is about 20 years ago). then some
cooler games were invented and now kids don't even
know what kites are. hehe.

Switchfoot in Manila

2007-09-25T01:30:00.000+08:00

music: learning to breathe - switchfoot
mood: cold

we were at the bleachers. yes, got problem with that?
it turned out it wasn't that far away from the stage,
but how i wish we got some mosh pit tickets. i was
trying to see what jonathan foreman's stomp boxes are,
but it was being blocked by the floor monitors.

we had a really good time. we were singing on the top
of our lungs. here's the setlist (stolen from
the official blog switchfootmanila.blogspot.com):

1. Oh! Gravity
2. Stars
3. Dare You to Move
4. American Dream
5. This is Your Life
6. Learning to Breathe
7. Chem 6A
8. More Than Fine
9. Gone
10. On Fire
11. The Cowboy Song
12. Awakening
13. Meant to Live
14. Only Hope
15. We Are One Tonight

you can also check the switchfoot site to check
out some cool pictures of the concert.

what eclipse?

2007-08-31T22:19:00.000+08:00

music: helicopter - bloc party
mood: :)

my cousin dors texted me this message moments after the
totality:

doris(in ashfield): Im witnesng a spectacular galactic
event, a total lunar eclipse:-) Its kinda romantic, d
moon 2rning crimson! Sna and2 k cuz. Mis u!

me(in valenzuela): maulap dito. nakakaasar.

under the bright lights

2007-08-03T21:35:00.000+08:00

i had my moments. and definitely this is one of
those. as someone who is ending his twenty-something
years, things have been geting to be rather slow
when things should have ought to be rather fast. in
some worst cases, things just don't happen. yes my
friends boredom has become me.

there it is again.. i'm bored to write.

Fred Flinstone Syndrome

2007-05-28T00:47:00.000+08:00

while i was watching united's latest dvd and
seeing joel houston talk about their then
upcoming studio release, a thought came to me:
will excessive facial hair work for me? you
know joel has hairs all over his face and yeah
it looked cool on him, maybe it will look good
on me too. so i'm on my first week now, but i
noticed i'm starting to look more like fred
flinstone than a musician. but i'm still giving
it a chance, maybe on it's second week it will
look fine. or wicked. or astig. or not.

have you seen united's album cover? just scroll
down to my cd review and you'll find it. notice
there are people wearing shirts with things that
they stood for. like hope, love, faith, etc. if
i was invited to that photoshoot, i'll will also
wear a shirt that says something i definitely like.

BURGERS.

raindrops keep falling on my head

2007-05-27T23:53:00.000+08:00

kahapon naligo ako sa ulan.

CD Review: All of The Above - United

2007-05-17T03:40:00.000+08:00

I'm not sure about the reason behind it but this time around, United
decided to do a studio effort rather than the usual live recording that
they have been doing the past years. Although the album somehow
lacked the energy that is evident from any live recording, this
album never lackedthe spirit of worship. The desire to worship
God in spirit and in truth (the be all and end all of all worship
recordings) is very much alive in this album. On the other hand,
since this is a studio recording, the arrangement and production
is so squeaky clean you can see your reflection from it.

The album contains 13 spunky new tracks, the song "Found" which
debuted on the "Mighty To Save Album" made a reapperance here as
a drum-looped and effects-laden worship gem totalling (?) the
lineup to 14. The album kicks off with "Point of Difference" a
lament about one of the worsening problems we have in the world
today: apathy. This song calls us to chip off this block of ice
with God's love and thus making a difference in the world. "Break
Free" is danceable track that actually has the word "dance" in
it's lyrics. You will be easily get hooked with the opening guitar
riff, and when the complementing bass line sets in, dancing is not
even an option.:)"Desperate People" is one of the top songs in the
album. The United team made an extensive touring of Asia (including
the Philippines) last year and probably have seen a lot from their
trip. This song strike me as something about helping each other out,
our common cause.

The album features a new worship leader named Brooke Fraser (my
brother was bragging about meeting her last year in the conference).
She wrote and sang two wonderful songs here in the album, "Lead Me To
The Cross" and "Hosanna" which I guess is one of the highlights of
the album. She has a solo album out and it is released by a different
label. Search her on Youtube and you will find some of her videos. The song "Solution" can very well be the "carrier" single of this album.
This is one of the only three songs you will find in the bonus DVD
(Hosanna and Saviour King are the other two). Co-written by Matt
Crocker, this song by Joel Solution is a rocker and may already be a
favorite among youth groups. Once again Joel made reference about
helping broken nations.

The songs in this album is heavy with guitars textured in digital delay.
Not U2-esque but Bloc Party-esque kind of playing. The use of post-punk
guitar showmanship is a welcome for me. Alavet. The album is currently
distributed in the Philippines by Praise Records, look for it in your
friendly neighborhood House of Praise outlets.

Rating: Four Point Five

Solution

2007-05-03T04:25:00.000+08:00

Here's the new single from the much-anticipated studio album of United:

Solution
Joel Houston, Matt Crocker

it is not a human right to stare, not fight
while broken nations dream
open up our eyes so blind that we might find
the mercy for the need

hey now
fill our hearts with Your compassion
hey now
as we hold to our confession

it is not too far a cry, too much to try
to help the least of these
politics will not decide if we should rise
and be Your hands and feet

whoa oh oh
God be the solution
whoa oh oh
we will be your hands and be Your feet

higher than all circumstance You promised then
Your love for all to see
higher than our protest lines and dollar signs
Your love is all we need

only You can mend the broken heart
and cause the blind to see
Your grace completes the sinners path
and set the captives free
only You can take the widow's cry
and cause her heart to sing
be the father to the fatherless
our Savior and our King

we will be Your hand we will be Your feet
we will run this race for the least of these
in the darkest place we will be Your light
we will be Your light

we will run
we will run
we will run with the solution

©2006 Hillsong Publishing (Admin. in U.S. & Canada by Integrity's Hosanna! Music)
All rights reserved. International copyright secured.

New Band Introduction: Grace Period

2007-05-02T00:33:00.000+08:00

watch out cris carraba, peter parker has turned emo! well i
guess that one stood out as the most memorable spiderman 3
moment for me. when the space vulca seal crept into
his uniform he suddenly turned emo, wearing black
clothes, putting eyeshadows, and (most importantly) letting
his bangs loose. then he did the weird dance. oh brother.

but still we enjoyed watching it, the computer effects
was over the top. haneps! the story is fast-paced and
the fight scenes were good. then he did the weird dance.
i liked what peter parker said in the closing scenes of
the movie, that we always have a choice to do the right
thing. then he did the weird dance.

okay that has nothing to do with the title. hehe. we
have just formed a band and we are giving away a demo song
for free. we are called grace period and in the most
daring feat of self-promotion (hehe), we are going around
forcing people to give our song a listen. just send us
an email at grace.period@yahoo.com! thanks! for more info
about the band (i sing and play guitar for this band by
the way), check out friendster.com/graceperiod or
myspace.com/thegraceperiodband God bless!

RZIM

2007-03-23T23:00:00.000+08:00

kuya manny gave me a 500Mb worth of ravi zacharias
sermons. i really really recommend that you get hold
of his sermons, i haven't heard someone as brilliant
as this wise thinker. you can download these sermons for
free on his website or you can
also subscribe to his podcast if you have itunes, for
free rin siyempre. just go to the itunes website and
check out the podcast directory.

i'm halfway through it and it has richly blessed me the
past weeks. i also bought his book "can man live without
God?" last month just so i could have a hard copy of his
teachings. his books are entirely based on his sermons,
parang transcript na hindi. this is hardcore as you can
get, you may get lost in his teachings once in a while
(hehe, lalim kasi yung iba) but you can listen and re-listen
so you can understand. these are the same sermons that
are being broadcasted every weeknights over at dzfe fm,
around 11 pm. but if you have a dsl connection, i recommend
you download it on his website. yun lang share ko lang. :)

Matt Redman and Louie Giglio Live

2007-03-16T23:32:00.000+08:00

This is the closest thing to a Passion Conference and I'm really
psyched out for this!

Commitment is Better Than Talent

2007-03-16T22:58:00.000+08:00

we're running out of praise and worship team
members. last week two of our senior members
left to work abroad, the keyboardist and the
guitarist. two members of the junior team have
been inactive for months now because of conflicts
in their work schedules. they both work as customer
service representatives and they are both worship
leaders. the bassist and the guitarist will be busy
in school this coming schoolyear when they start
their nursing internship. the drummer, who is
struggling his way out of college, is somewhat lost.

and so am i.

two weeks ago i find myself training 14-year olds
so as to fill the gap. that's just about the same
age when i started joining in as saling-pusa.
it has been a very challenging experience for me, like
starting from scratch. i taught the simplest songs,
heart of worship and here i am to worship. concon,
who used to be my sunday shool student and the one
who responded to our call, struggled through the song's
chord changes. he's determined to learn.

martin smith (delirous?) in one of the talks he made
at hillsong said these words and it has made an
intergalacticplanetary impact on me:

commitment is better than talent.

i find these statement very true in my experience in the
music ministry. but this is not to undermine excellence
in playing and glorify mediocrity. what i mean is, when
worship is concerned, it will always and ultimately be an
issue of the heart. the Lord sees our hearts and it is
what counts the most.

i pray that these kids would continue with accelerating
zeal. i pray that they would continue to seek the Lord.
i pray that they would not lose their sacrifice. please
pray for our church.

vamp 2

2006-11-01T22:57:00.000+08:00

so finally i was able to figure out how to operate
my V-Amp 2. see, i'm not much into reading operating
manuals, but after days of being frustrated and not
being able to get the sound that i want, binasa ko rin
ang manual.

the v-amp is a guitar effects processor manufactured by
behringer (a german company, but really it's made in china).
while your ordinary stomp box is a no brainer (you just
turn a couple of knobs and voila!), this thing has 32 amp
simulations, 15 cabinet simulations, about 20 effects,
125 presets distributed in 25 banks and 3 band equalizers;
so it's more complicated to operate. i spent 3 hours
learning how to master the controls, and yesterday was an
achievement because i was able to program 5 presets that
would suit my playing style during praise and worship. i
put in some digital delay, chorus, and my personal favorite,
the tremolo.

so far it's been doing what i tell it to do. hehe. i was
able to buy it at half the price, very cheap compared to
line 6's pod. i guess at this point in time i'm not
crazy enough to buy a guitar gadget that costs 30 thousand
pesos. maybe in the future i will, so hintay ka lang diyan
line 6. hehe.

United Live In Manila

2006-10-29T23:28:00.000+08:00

tuloy na tuloy na nga, everyone is really excited about it.
it's been all over the internet, sa mga blog, sa friendster,
sa christinaster at sa mga christian forums. sino kaya dun
sa team ang pupunta? usually kasi hati sila, marty and joel
play with different teams, pero mas maganda kung pareho sila
makakapunta. phil dooley, yung youth pastor nila, kasama sa
pupunta, i hope he gives some talk.

ang maganda this time mas mura ang ticket, kaya ang aga nag-
soldout yung mga front row. pero mas cheaper pa rin yung
dati na P50 pesos lang, nung yung senior team yung pumunta.
i remember they played "everyday" twice nung concert na yun.
minalat ako, hehe. tapos na-meet ko pa dun yung kaklase ko
nung highschool na nagulat ako na naging christian na rin pala.

nga pala, i heard the edge's contract sa 91.5 expires on october
31. let's pray na they can move in to some other frequencies
para 24/7 na sila. and stronger reception sana. :)

those in favor of pluto not being a planet please stand up

2006-08-25T17:40:00.000+08:00

i have to find it myself..

i had a 10-second shock. it was a thousand-
yard stare. i saw my childhood flashing
before my eyes (i know, i know that's over-
reacting). what they taught us back in
kinderschool was wrong. we only have eight
planets! oh humanity!

the scientists at prague voted in favor of
resolution 5a proclaiming pluto is not a
planet, rather it is now called a trans-
neptunian object. apparently, you have to
be strong enough to suck all those interga-
lactic debris around you to be recognized
as a planet. pluto wasn't able to clear
it's neighborhood (the kuiper belt) of litter
that's why he's no longer in the big league.

i wonder how would mr. tombaugh react now
that his little discovery isn't a planet
at all?

raving about ravi

2006-08-25T17:11:00.000+08:00

music: immaculate - the wild swans
mood: anticipating

went to asian theological seminary to
hear ravi zacharias speak, it was my second
time. the first time i saw him he was in
up theater and i can't even remember his
topic back then. as an 18-year old then, i
was never aware about his reputation and the
extent of his impact in the philosophical
world. it was when i became much interested
in Christian apologetics years after that I
learned of his ministry and his works. this
guy is hardcore, arguably the greatest defender
of the Christian faith since c.s. lewis.

he used 2 kings 21 and 22 as his texts, contrasting
the lives of two young kings of israel, manasseh
and josiah who became kings at an early age of
12 and 8 respectively. the reign of these kings
were summarized as follows. for manasseh

"He did evil in the eyes of the Lord."

for josia:

"He did what was right in the eyes
of the Lord."

josia was able to restore peace and order in
jerusalem, and as ravi puts it, the key to
national transformation is "doing what was right
in the eyes of the Lord." in the course of his
lecture, he made references to the state of
other nations, particularly moscow and united
states. at the end of his lecture, he answered
questions about stem cell research and in vitrio
fertilization and argued about its moral impli-
cations.

***

while scouring for books at booksale, i was
able to find a book entitled resurrected, it
was a transcript of the dialogue between gary
habermas and tony flew. it as a theist / atheist
debate attesting the possibility / impossibility
of resurrection of Christ. it was a good read
and i was impressed at how these two gentlemanly
respected each other's beliefs. interestingly
enough, tony flew made headlines years ago when
he, a staunch supporter of evolution, abandoned
his "beliefs" and proclaimed his belief in a God
who made the earth. but he made reservations
about a personal God who is mindful about the
lives of His creation. google anthony flew to
learn more about him.

Ravi Zacharias in Manila

2006-08-21T00:24:00.000+08:00

Ravi Zacharias Gig Sched:

TUESDAY, AUGUST 22ND
5:30 – 8:30pm
Venue: Bahay Ng Alumni,
Ramon Magsaysay Ave. (across UP Film Center), UP Diliman
Theme: Secularism

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23RD
7:00 – 9:00pm
Venue: Christ Commission Fellowship (CCF) Auditorium,
St. Francis Square, Ortigas Center, Metro Manila
Theme: Leadership

THURSDAY, AUGUST 24TH
9:00am – 12:00nn
Venue: Chapel of Asian Theological Seminary (ATS),
#54 Scout Madrinan st., Quezon City, Metro Manila
Theme: National Transformation

Ravi Zacharias is considered as one of the champions
of Christian Apologetics, challenging the post modern
culture who have been very skeptical about the existence
of God. His shows are aired at 98.7 DZFE FM every night
at around 11 pm. Read about him and his ministries at
www.rzim.org.

2006-07-07T23:38:00.000+08:00

music: waiting for amy - grace period
mood: nagtataka kung bakit antagal kong walang post

the hillsong conference ends today. i missed delirious because
i was a year early. hehe. kuya manny was able to go this time
around and he is fortunate enough to watch our most favoritest,
bestest christian band in the universe: delirious?. i hope
they bring in good pictures. last year was all blurry, i wonder
who took those pictures. *whistles* passion's louie giglio
was there too, and rick warren, i think.

bought five books at booksale, U2's biography, a book written by
ruth bell (mrs. billy graham), something from lilith fair
(sarah maclachlan's brainchild), something about israel's
northern kingdoms, and a river runs through it. the only
book that i was able to remember the title. hehe. all in
all, it cost me only P125. i read about U2's biography first,
of course and i have only a few pages to finish. the writer
made vivid descriptions of ireland's political backdrop, this
bore me the most but i think it's essential to the story.
this morning i watched the making of joshua tree and saw the
familiar names mentioned in the book, particularly mcguiness,
lanois and eno. i also watched, the vertigo tour on dvd.
40 (Psalm 40) usually have been the band's gig ender throughout
the years. imagine tens of thousands of people haveing a last
song syndrome singing, "i waited patiently for the Lord...
how long, to sing this song.."

Review: United We Stand

2006-04-17T17:29:00.000+08:00

1. Intro
2. The Time Has Come
3. Take It All
4. From God Above
5. From the Inside Out
6. Came to the Rescue
7. [A Reprise]
8. None but Jesus
9. (Selah)
10. Fire Fall Down
11. Revolution
12. Kingdom Come
13. No One like You
14. Sovereign Hands
15. The Stand
16. (Selah)
17. Hallelujah

my first purchase of a united album is way back in 2000 when i bought a cassette copy of their debut release, everyday. although the boys sound somewhat nervous in this live recording, it effectively captured the r-a-w passion of the emerging youth ministry in their church. six years and seven (? sorry i have lost count) albums later, united has become the most-admired youth worship band in the world. they played to sold out crowds in canada, the states, japan, and some parts of europe.

in their latest offering, united we stand, united was able to use the current musical trend and integrate it in their music. while look to you shows hints of U2-styled guitar, united we stand plays on danceable, post-punk guitar riffs reminiscent of bloc party and franz ferdinand. the first three songs in the album, the time has come, take it all and from God above, is sure to make the congregation dancing. i really like the challenge they have mentioned in the time has come:

the time has come to stand for all we believe in
and i for one am gonna bring my praise to You
today, today it's all or nothing to give You praise
in everything i do, yeah all the praise goes out to You

excellent guitar works on these songs, their main guitar dude boasts of an arsenal of amazing guitar pedals (drools). on the slower songs, from the inside out is sure to pick up where the song til i see You left off. this sweeping, heart-felt ballad exemplifies joel houston's maturity in his songwriting. the stand is a song of abandon, this pretty sums up the theme of the album.

in most respects, this album is similar to previous releases of united. the dynamics and the flow of the songs are the same but it is worthy to point out how their songwriting has matured. dear united, please come to manila. we love you guys and hope to see you lead worship here...

BYE BYE 3230

2006-04-10T00:20:00.000+08:00

bought barbiie's new album and i also got the
new united cd/dvd set. i'll post my reviews
of these albums next week. parade is in most
ways never different from barbie's previous
efforts, the same can be said of united's
united we stand album. if you know the band
bloc party, their groove is somewhat similar
to this band.

we also received our invitation for this year's
hillsong conference. for sure i won't be able to
go because i haven't earned enough VL slots. i'm
not sure if kuya manny will be able to go. my
most favoritest band delirous? will be there.
sayang. huwaaah....

and to make matters worse,

I LOST MY PHONE!

CD Review 02: Dakilang Pag-ibig - 23rd Psalm

2006-03-28T18:26:00.000+08:00

Track List:

1. The Day of the Lord
2. Yahweh, Ikaw
3. Dakilang Pag-ibig
4. Sapat
5. Be With You
6. None Like You
7. Aming Pastol
8. Back In Your arms
9. Sa Piling Mo
10. Lord of All
11. Yahweh, Ikaw (Slam Version)

The album contains nine original compositions and a cover
version of a Malayang Pilipino classic, "Sa Piling Mo." It
stretches to eleven songs as the band takes another shot on their
catchy track "Yahweh, Ikaw" tinkering on some knobs to come up
with a more edgy, pumped-up, "slam version" of the song. (This may
or may not be a good thing, depending on what church you are in,
hehe).

The opening track, "The Day of the Lord," serves as a call to worship
song ushering the listener to a moment of worship. "Yahweh, Ikaw"
follows, perhaps the album's catchiest track . This song, with it's
simple lyrics and feel-good vibe has radio potential (it was already
played in Against the Flow) and can very well be your youth's camp
song for this summer. "Dakilang Pag-ibig" is the best track in the
album, it talks about God's love through the forgiveness of sins. In
the chorus, the writer points out how we are to respond to that love:
"Habang-buhay kitang pupurihin/ Sasambahin at aawitan/ Ikaw ay
aking mamahalin/ Sapagkat ako ay alipin ng dakilang pag-ibig Mo."
The 4-minute rocker, "Aming Pastol" is also a standout track, this is
done in melodic-punk fashion and can be a favorite during live
performances. "Back in Your Arms" has some romantic undertones
in it's title but it is really about God's offer of restoration. Other
notable tracks are "Be With You" which features a female vocalist,
"Sapat" and "Lord of All."

The strength of this album is in the songs. They are all straight-out
worship songs that your local congregation can sing. It's weakness
is in the production, that can be understandable since this is independently-produced. This could have sounded much better if the
technical aspect have been improved. But overall, the album is good
and a really brave effort for these Tondo lads. Thanks for opening the doors.

The album is locally available in all PCBS outlets. Click here for more information or you can email pinoycager@gmail.com.

how will you be defined in the dictionary?

2006-03-18T02:39:00.000+08:00

Evan --

[adjective]:

Visually addictive

'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Jupiter's New Red Spot

2006-03-09T05:17:00.000+08:00

music: stars - hum
mood: hmmm... Schmidt-Cassegrain

From NASA.gov. Astig pinoy pa yung kumuha ng picture!

Backyard astronomers, grab your telescopes. Jupiter is growing
a new red spot.

Christopher Go of the Philippines photographed it on February
27 using an 11-inch telescope and a CCD camera:

Read the rest of the article here:

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/watchtheskies/02mar_redjr.html