Atheista -

It’s always a daunting task to come up with a list that would encompass a span of time that stretches through a vast expanse of experiences, sensations and sentiments. Memory and recall can be quite selective at times and the things that are at the top of your head may not necessarily be the best picks. This list only reflects my personal preference and I do not wish to impose this standard on anyone. I know my taste can be quite quirky and a bit offensive for some but I just can’t help loving the songs that I put on this compilation.

To ensure more or less equal representation, only one song per band will be mentioned.
With that obligatory disclaimer out of the way, let’s go down to business.

No Falter – Wolfgang

There will definitely be a Wolfgang song in this list so I’m choosing to mention this song right off the bat. “No Falter” is one of my favorite songs of all time and Black Mantra is certainly the most underrated album in Wolfgang’s discography. Hearing it live during last year’s concert was an almost surreal experience. The band didn’t get to play the songs from Black Mantra a lot since they broke up less than two years after the release of the album.

Hallelujah – Bamboo

This song is on the list not just because I was totally over the moon when this song came out (no judgment) but also because I can wail out this song almost effortlessly (again, NO judgment! haha). It sounded really fresh right off the bat and even if the album it came in did sound a bit one-dimensional, ‘Hallelujah’ sure was a welcome addition to the wealth of discography that the past 11 years has seen. No one is saying it but Bamboo single-handedly kept Pinoy rock relevant after the disbandment of the Eraserheads and the quasi-disbandment of Wolfgang.

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Social media has changed the game in many fronts and that includes the way that bands engage their fans. Before, artists would set up exclusive clubs and mailing list to somehow limit the amount of people who would get updates from them. With the explosion of the Facebook and Twitter phenomenon, the game has been more about building larger communities to ensure that the message does get across to as many fans as possible.

I scanned through the local bands who maintain a Facebook page and ranked them according to the number of members of each community. Before, popularity was based on whose songs stay on top of the charts for the longest time. Now, there’s a better and more tangible and comparative metric to really gauge the breadth of influence of artists.

Feel free to tell me if I missed anyone. The stats are as of April 5, 2011.

Here are the top ten artists in the Philippines according to Facebook: Continue Reading »

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Baguio City 1990

I find it amusing that two of my foreigner friends (Risto and Hugo) almost posted this link from CNN that reveals that Manila would be unprepared on the event of a devastating earthquake. Manila has a major fault running along the eastern spine of the city and thousands of homes and buildings are currently standing on top or right next to the fault line.

There was a study done by Japanese experts from 2002 to 2004 projects that over 50 000 deaths could result from a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. Aside from this, the experts also predicted that well over 1.3 million buildings could be destroyed and 500 fires could be simultaneously ignited due to the tremors. Given how the Philippine government responded to the Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) aftermath, it’s very likely that the federal response to a disaster of a greater scale and magnitude would be as negligible.  Continue Reading »

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Only a few delicacies in Southeast Asia could rival the balut’s (also called balot) reputation for being a gastronomical rite of passage.   It is very common to see night vendors selling this delicious egg in street corners and there are even some who walk all night to search for potential buyers. A quick internet search would reveal that people in Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand also consider balut as a nice treat. The term balut is the one that stuck because it was the one used in popular culture the most. The reality show series Fear Factor has routinely used the mysterious egg as one of the hurdles contestants must face to win the 50 000 USD cash prize.

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Day 3 marked our last morning in Cebu and our first day in Bohol. I went to pier early to buy our tickets, the tickets to the Super Cat ferry to Tagbilaran were already sold out so I had to go to Weesam Express – a company that doesn’t have a website that shows up in the first page of Google search results when you look for pings. Despite this ominous red flag, the trip to Bohol was relatively free of any inconvenience. Aside from the atrocious subtitles on the onboard movie (“Crash”), the ride was mostly tolerable and uneventful.

We reached Tagbilaran City after about two hours at sea. We were fetched at the pier and we quickly made our way to my friend’s beach front rest house. It was a big house with three rooms that easily fit the nine other people who went with me for the trip. The photo above was actually taken on the last day – when all of us were at least heavier – both in terms of shades of tan and actual body weight after all the beach bumming and scarfing. Continue Reading »

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The idea that an entire nation of intelligent and opinionated individuals would stand side by side for common causes is certainly a dream that resides in the minds of the idealistic members of the blogging community. I’m a bit shocked though that is something that is considered by people whom I consider to be pragmatic and fairly reasonable individuals.

This point has been hammered home so many times already – the beauty of the blogging medium lies in how free it is and how personal of an experience it is to the person writing the posts and maintaining the sites. While blogging, a person is free to just express his thoughts and just allow himself to be at the mercy of an audience that is largely anonymous and at times appreciative or judgmental. The blog has become a soapbox that has allowed people of different interests, backgrounds and affiliations to spill their minds on a virtual space and engage the rest of the world in some form of correspondence or communication.  Continue Reading »

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