Sino sino sino ba?: November 2006

Sino sino sino ba?

napa-este ang peste, nagkandaletche-letche

Friday, November 17, 2006

Vinyl, Crazy I Just Can’t Sleep

I love music. Period. Who doesn't anyway? Tell me any name of a person who doesn't adore this fine and divine mania. Show him to me and I'll surely bitch slap him until my hands bleed. Ever since I was a youngster, I was already a music geek. I listened to everything that my father played on our cassette player. I listen too every kind genre. Name it, from blues to alternative to funk to classic rock to ska to every single genre you can think of. You give it, I’ll hear it.

If we take in consideration the things that I listen to, the influence is very wide. There are "the bands" and the influence of people who introduced me to different kinds of genres. I whole-heartedly appreciate all kinds. But of course, there is this certain beauty and splendor in a certain band, song, album or genre that can be note-worthy. It is very impossible for a person, or rather a music geek like me not to have their own favorite and desired choices. No matter if the person prefers to like punk music, hip-hop, reggae, whether the person is a purist or not, we have our own choices. We have our own favorites.

BUT do you know that there are only four songs that have the capacity to give me this certain meltdown whenever I hear them? Yeah, I worship a lot of bands and genres here and there but these for songs….. They have this particular prowess that can give me this mixed, emotional, poignant, and sentimental feeling no matter how many times I listen to them. Once I hear one song from the four, the sensation that I felt the first time I heard it can still be felt, can still be sensed.

I don't know man, these songs really drive me crazy, and I just can't sleep. I'm so excited. I’m in to deep. (See, I even listen to Britney Spears… Well that was a long time ago anyway.).

May I present to you the four songs that make me dump everytime I hear them:
(In no particular order)

1. Waiting In Vain by Bob Marley and the Wailers (album - One Love: The Best of Bob Marley and the Wailers)

I bought this album when I was still in grade 6. The main reason why I bought it was for experimental purposes. I wanted something new to listen too and it was the first album that I laid my eyes on, on that certain day. And the next thing I knew was I was in love with the album, I was in love with the songs, and most of all, I was in love with Waiting in Vain. I cannot remember how many times I repeatedly listen to it but it still gets me whenever I hear it. Pure evidence of the beauty of the song can be proven because no matter how this song is revised, Bob Marley's version is still the one, the champion and the indomitable one. We have Annie Lennox's version. We have local revisions from Bamboo, MYMP and a whole lot more. Anybody who is knows the A-B-C can really tell the big difference. Bob Marley's version only has the power to make me move my body to its reggae beat. His version only has the capability to make me forget what I was seriously watching in the television. Waiting in Vain is a very old song, and yet I never get tired of it. Hypothetically speaking, this song won't fade away after 20 years from now. I’m sure of that. Waiting in Vain is undeniably, indisputably and without a doubt, timeless.

2. Close my Eyes by Jordan Knight

This must be the cheesiest song in my track list. It's hard to admit but this song is one of those songs that make me go mushy all over. Nope, I am not kidding, never was, never will. I don’t know what this song has but it makes me weak and vulnerable all over. I don’t know much about Jordan Knight and his album, but I really love his crooning voice. Laugh if you want but this song, ehem, makes me feel in love. (YEAH, SUCKER.)

3. Fine Time by Eraserheads (album – Cutterpillow)

Fine Time is sung by a little band called Eraserheads. Heard of them? (I'[ll slap you again if you haven't) This Beatlesque song makes me want to cry out for something. I have this feeling that I want to let all my tears fall down upon hearing it. I'm not exaggerating anything at all here. This is by pure heart. Every time I hear Fine Time, I feel like crying because it's as if I’m missing someone, something that I don't exactly know what it is. It’s a mystery that I cannot solve until now. Maybe it's because this song is one of the major reasons why I have my everyday sickness – Nostalgia. Call me wistful, emo or what – I don't care. There is this certain melancholic feeling that it gives that makes me feel like I'm young again and in addition, the song makes me want to snivel and laugh at the same time. Everytime I hear it, I suddenly have this rapid flashback inside my head of my childhood. I can see myself once again running after those new-born chicks in Mati, playing bahay-bahayan, and all those kalokohan that I did on my carefree days. Another reason why this song is superb is because it's obviously written by one of the most influential bands in the Philippines, the 90's supernova band, The Eraserheads. The band's arrangement of the song is outstanding. Lyrics-wise, it's okay. But nonetheless, Fine Time's effects on me are mystifying and confusing yet it makes me feel warm. It makes me feel that I’m being cuddled and being guarded by someone or something from my past (that I cannot possibly identify what the fuck it is). Whenever I hear Ely Buendia go "the whole day will be fine." It indeed makes the whole day fine. Eh kasi nga diba, basta't kayakap ka ay okey.

4. Himig Natin by Juan Dela Cruz Band (album – Ang Himig Natin)

Pepe Smith, Mike Hanopol and the rest of the Juan Dela Cruz Band are
ingenious. How do they make songs like this? Himig Natin is one of those songs that I wish I had written (in my dreams). The beauty of this song is that, no matter how ruined the country is, and even if Philippine Politics makes it more devastated, the songs, whenever you hear it, makes you proud to be Pinoy. "Upang tayo’y magsama-sama sa langit, ating pag-asa." – this line gets me everytime I hear it. For me, this song is like a wake up call for everyone. But too bad, nobody's hearing it. Himig Natin, just like Waiting in Vain is an old song, and it was written before I was born (and way before I was made) but it really really really gets me everytime I listen to it. No matter how many times I hear it, again it gets me. Pepe Smith niftiness is one of the reasons that I never get worn-out listening to their songs, as well as for Himig Natin. Himig Natin just makes me feel proud to be a Filipino. 'Nuff said.

*this isn’t over yet. Hahaha (Evil Laugh)

posted by eedom / maricon / captain jack sparrow @
Friday, November 17, 2006 |

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Of being identified as "EEDOM"

Most of you may wonder why, why on all names made-up on earth would I choose the name EEDOM.

Well, to tell you the truth it's neither me nor a product of my round the bend, preposterous and mad mind. It isn't a moniker that my close friends just called me on one sunny Monday. It came from the person that you would least expect. Now take a guess. Was it from a teacher? No. A close friend perhaps? No no. Sirit? It came from my mother.

You might probably say that "Lasing ata ang nanay ni Maricon. Bakit niya binigyan ng pangalan na ganyan ang anak niya". Oh for pete's sakes. I thought I was cursed for eternity. When I was younger, I was thinking I had the most disgusting, sordid, names that ever walked on the planet. At first it was still too hard to swallow the fact that I had the name Maricon with me for the rest of my life. I don't know why but for some reason (that up to now is still a mystery) I really hated the name Maricon. If I hated THAT name, how much more for the name EEDOM?

I still would presume that my mother, upon giving the names to me was drunk at that time. If not for me and my curiosity, the mystery would remain unresolved. I will forever question myself. I will perpetually be suffering from hideous monsters of namesville.

*rewind-rewind*

Bakit nga ba Eedom?

February 25, 1990. A true-blooded Filipino would have guessed that this day is a holiday. Now let’s move back to 4 years.

February 25, 1986. Any living Filipino would mark this day as a very important day. It's the day where we celebrate the closing stages of the Marcos regime. It is the day after the famous ex-president Ferdinand Marcos stepped down and dispersed himself to Hawaii.

Now move add another four years.

February 25, 1990. A holiday. And yeah, this day is also my birthday.

So if you still didn’t understand the logical flow of events that I just presented, I might as well tell you why.

My mother (who is a very nationalistic kind of person) thought it would be a rad idea to name her daughter according to the holiday that is celebrated on her daughter's birthday, EDSA 1. Shit no, I wasn't named after the street. DUH. My mother called me Freedom. For freedom was once again reborn on that day. Freedom that was again taken from the Filipino masses was once more retrieved by the People Power. (Yes, ganun niya kamahal ang bansa natin. Pati anak niya dinamay niya sa kanyang mga kabaliwan. Dyok lang mama! AYLABYU!)

Study the word FREEDOM cautiously. Now, slowly, get rid of the first two letters (F & R). Now do what do you see? Yes, it's EEdom.

Some of my mother's close friends still call me Freedom. And yes, I admit it; I still get the heebie-jeebies from people who call me by that name. Now after knowing the real history of my nickname, I am starting to like it and I guess I won't be able to get away from it right? The name's stuck with me through-out my entire life and since almost everyone that I know calls me by that name, there’s no turning back.

Oh save me dear moniker from the realms for the fire!
SALVATION!

posted by eedom / maricon / captain jack sparrow @
Thursday, November 09, 2006 |

Friday, November 03, 2006

A Three Day Vacation is Not Enough

I woke up 6:30 am to prepare all my stuff. From clothes to medicine to my goggles (that I idiotically forgot to put inside my bag) to a pillow and a Nestea Ice on my hand, and after 5 hours of traveling, we finally arrived at the place where I lived all my childhood experiences and know-how’s: MATI DAVAO ORIENTAL.

Aahhh. It’s good to be back in my hometown. It’s been (wait, bibilangin ko muna) almost a year since my last visit. And I can’t believe it, not a single thing has been changed. The house is as humid as ever. The province has its usual muggy chicken-crap smell. Still, the pedicabs rule the entire Mati streets. All but one has changed. And astonishing as it can be… MATI HAS A JOLIBEE BRANCH ALREADY!

My uncle was kind enough to stop the car when we were still roving. And as the opportunity was given, we took some snapshots of the famous “Sleeping Dinosaur”. A famous land mark of Mati where the mountains shaped a (yep, you guessed it) sleeping dinosaur. The mountains were now greener than the last time I saw it. And the seas surrounding the mountains were bluer than ever. It’s pretty amazing how nature has the capability and the knack to heal itself. As I was gazing the seas down the cliff, I had the urge to jump and “dive” down unto the waters. It was like mother nature was calling me “Anak, lika na ditto sa tubig.. naghihintay na si mama”. Sobrang nakahuhumaling ang tubig. Luckily I was sane enough to collect myself. Hindi pa ako ganun kagutom ano. And then we ran back to the van.

Let’s skip the first day.
Let’s move on to the second day.
This was the day when we went to the beach. Yeah beybe. Swimming beach, the Mati style. Everything was fun except for the fact that we had a flat tire which obliged us to wait for goddamn hours for the good o’ boys to change the tire. That fricking tire.
And it really sucks to see your lesbo cousin making out with her so-called girlfriend. Eeeee. Creepy.

And so after hours of swimming, and eating and singing sa videoke, we waited for the car (that took for at least 2 hrs) and rode back home safely. We managed to make it through the “walang katapusang kadiliman”.

It’s good to have these kinds of vacations. Getting away from everything that you are obliged to do, having an excuse to escape everything that is expected from you. But the bad news is all vacations have their endings.

SHIYET, Sem break’s almost over.

posted by eedom / maricon / captain jack sparrow @
Friday, November 03, 2006 |

About Me

Name: eedom / maricon / captain jack sparrow
Home: Davao City, Philippines
About Me: Maricon Montajes, 16 years of age. I am from davao city, philippines. 4th year highschool. I love MUSIC- It is my passion and my life. I support OPM bands, pinoy indie bands, filipino artists. Second to music is the beach, i am a water person. I love the outdoor life, snorkeling, and plan to take on scuba diving in the near future. For more me, just dive into my blog and splurge. XD
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