Got the image from the Facebook Group, We Fucking Love Atheism. Uploaded it here for safekeeping :)
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Monday, April 15, 2013
No Ordinary Summer... Last Night
There was a lingering thought in my mind since last night: I wish I had known more Queso songs.
I wish I had known more Queso songs then I would have been able to sing along when Ian points his mic towards the crowd. I wish I had known Insekta then I would have been able to chant "Mokhamiyasaymokameh!".
Last night was one of the best concerts I've been to.
No Ordinary Summer: A Cross Fade Initiative featuring Urbandub, Queso and Franco was held on April 13, 2013 at B-Side, The Collective.
Me and my girlfriend were stoked when we learned that Franco will be having a performance on that date, April 13. She was informed about it by a colleague and I saw it from philippineconcerts.com. It was a perfect day for us as I had taken a leave off of work to go to Komikon which was held at an earlier time.
We came at around 9pm. We were a bit worried that tickets will be sold out but was relieved to see that they're still selling. When we came in, I was surprised to see that there were fewer people than I expected. B-Side was not even crowded. Not sure, maybe they took a break or maybe just ninjas lurking in the dark. Anyway, Salamin was playing, making it obvious that Dhruva Tara was the first band to perform. After a few more songs from Salamin, I decided to claim our free beer. All of sudden, the crowd went wild. It became apparent why the crowd suddenly got fired up; Franco will be playing next.The crowd now starts to get thicker and thicker as the rest of Franco tests their gear. The ninjas are now coming out of the shadows.
I forgot the first song, I think it was Renewal off of their latest album, Soul Adventurer. A few more songs from Soul Adventurer followed such as Muse, A Beautiful Diversion, Better Days, Moonset and To Survive. Few are singing along but majority of the crowd is just banging their heads slightly. It's apparent that they're not that familiar with the new album. The people then got pumped up when Franco started to play a bit of the familiar tunes from their first album such as Next Train Out and Song for the Suspect. More and more people are now raising their hands in tune to the songs.
Franco's performance was superb. His voice is great as usual. It's solid and sustained. Also, I was impressed by the drum tracks. I felt it was more powerful compared to the album. Or maybe everything just gets better when performed live. It was a treat for us to finally see Franco play again. It was great. It was an awesome night.
It's still hot and we were sweating like some Tae Bo instructor. But... doesn't matter, had Franco. I grabbed some more beer as we wait for the next band to play.
Flashed on the wall from a projector was "Next Band is Queso". My girlfriend was a bit apprehensive because, well, it's Queso. Who knows, some fans might get carried away and start a pit or some crazy shit that hardcore fans do. But I assured her that it will not happen. I noticed that there were a lot of couples, like us, gathered on the left side of the open ground and it seems that the "more hardcore fans" were gathered on the other side. There were even some people that wanted to go to the back of the area to avoid a possible "islaman".
It's been a while since I listened to Queso. The last song that I listened to is Mottaka, when they're still known as Cheese. Then some other bands came and went into my life and they were thrown into the dark corners of my brain, forgotten. But not for long.
They played songs that I'm not familiar with. Still, I banged my head, bent my knees and raised my fist. I'm enjoying it. Ian's stage presence is something that I began to love, in a manly way of course. I really don't know how to explain it exactly but seeing him sing, dance and do some weird and crazy things is very contagious. His antics, facial expressions and mannerisms will make you appreciate the man and the music. That was one of the best performances I have seen.
And here's one of the things that I will never forget about that night: Ian's infamous flip!
I wish I had known more Queso songs then I would have been able to sing along when Ian points his mic towards the crowd. I wish I had known Insekta then I would have been able to chant "Mokhamiyasaymokameh!".
Last night was one of the best concerts I've been to.
No Ordinary Summer: A Cross Fade Initiative featuring Urbandub, Queso and Franco was held on April 13, 2013 at B-Side, The Collective.
Me and my girlfriend were stoked when we learned that Franco will be having a performance on that date, April 13. She was informed about it by a colleague and I saw it from philippineconcerts.com. It was a perfect day for us as I had taken a leave off of work to go to Komikon which was held at an earlier time.
We came at around 9pm. We were a bit worried that tickets will be sold out but was relieved to see that they're still selling. When we came in, I was surprised to see that there were fewer people than I expected. B-Side was not even crowded. Not sure, maybe they took a break or maybe just ninjas lurking in the dark. Anyway, Salamin was playing, making it obvious that Dhruva Tara was the first band to perform. After a few more songs from Salamin, I decided to claim our free beer. All of sudden, the crowd went wild. It became apparent why the crowd suddenly got fired up; Franco will be playing next.The crowd now starts to get thicker and thicker as the rest of Franco tests their gear. The ninjas are now coming out of the shadows.
I forgot the first song, I think it was Renewal off of their latest album, Soul Adventurer. A few more songs from Soul Adventurer followed such as Muse, A Beautiful Diversion, Better Days, Moonset and To Survive. Few are singing along but majority of the crowd is just banging their heads slightly. It's apparent that they're not that familiar with the new album. The people then got pumped up when Franco started to play a bit of the familiar tunes from their first album such as Next Train Out and Song for the Suspect. More and more people are now raising their hands in tune to the songs.
Franco's performance was superb. His voice is great as usual. It's solid and sustained. Also, I was impressed by the drum tracks. I felt it was more powerful compared to the album. Or maybe everything just gets better when performed live. It was a treat for us to finally see Franco play again. It was great. It was an awesome night.
It's still hot and we were sweating like some Tae Bo instructor. But... doesn't matter, had Franco. I grabbed some more beer as we wait for the next band to play.
I said it was an awesome night. But then it got better when the next set came.
Flashed on the wall from a projector was "Next Band is Queso". My girlfriend was a bit apprehensive because, well, it's Queso. Who knows, some fans might get carried away and start a pit or some crazy shit that hardcore fans do. But I assured her that it will not happen. I noticed that there were a lot of couples, like us, gathered on the left side of the open ground and it seems that the "more hardcore fans" were gathered on the other side. There were even some people that wanted to go to the back of the area to avoid a possible "islaman".
It's been a while since I listened to Queso. The last song that I listened to is Mottaka, when they're still known as Cheese. Then some other bands came and went into my life and they were thrown into the dark corners of my brain, forgotten. But not for long.
They played songs that I'm not familiar with. Still, I banged my head, bent my knees and raised my fist. I'm enjoying it. Ian's stage presence is something that I began to love, in a manly way of course. I really don't know how to explain it exactly but seeing him sing, dance and do some weird and crazy things is very contagious. His antics, facial expressions and mannerisms will make you appreciate the man and the music. That was one of the best performances I have seen.
And here's one of the things that I will never forget about that night: Ian's infamous flip!
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| Note: I do not own this. This amazing photo was taken from Roxanne Nebres Photography. |
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Why I Stopped Foruming
Online forums can be a great place provided the members are as awesome as you would think you are (and should be fairly moderated IMO). You can find friends and learn lots of things. You can share ideas and discuss topics about anything, from the most mundane of things to the craziest ones, from online games to zombie apocalypse survival. But just like life, it has its bad parts, maybe even harsher.
Backtrack to around 2005, I found a great online forum. Moderators are respected. Members interact with each other as if they're brothers. The number of members online at any given time is big. Debates and healthy discussions are aplenty. In short, it's a lively community. I even made some friends. Of course, there would be those occasional trolls but none that would destroy the harmony of the forum. But to job and access issues, I lost access to that forum (which is now offline, may it rest in peace).
Forward to 2011, with my new job allowing me to access the internet, I was able to frequent the internet world. I learned new memes, watched new YouTube videos and got hooked to competitive Dota 2 tournaments. I decided to, maybe, start checking some forums again. Playdota was out of the question. I no longer follow the DotA 1 scene and as far as I know, the dota-allstars.com trolls and nazis live there. I decided to check out joinDota.com. It's forum seems to be a bit small, with threads mainly dedicated to Dota 2. I tried to reply to some of the interesting threads but holy shit, the level of trolling is ridiculous. Several unnecessary threads are being opened everyday. The level of rage and hate against players and against each other is painful to see. Plus, the moderators are not getting the love they deserve. Little by little my interest in interacting with other netizens are diminishing and I find it troublesome to reply already.
I tried interacting with the YouTube community but damn, it's much much worse. Everyone there seems to have god complex. And what's funny is that most of them already fucked either your sister, your girlfriend or your mother. Even a simple comment will be responded with "Fuck you! I hope you have cancer and die!" Seriously.
I thought that during the days when I was at the peak of my internet life, everything was way better compared to the level of trolling these days. It's possible that somewhere in the other corners of the internet world, it's already like this. But it's hard for me to accept what has become of the internet today. Everyone seems to be hating and raging. Everyone acts like a teenager with some behavioral issues. Not to mention Facebook is becoming a breeding ground for idiots and attention whores, but that's a different story.
I've mostly given up on forums. I still check the joinDota website for updates about the team's matches and scores but I rarely look at the forums. Sometimes I would see an interesting thread and I try to reply with a few inputs but that's just it. I would still see its usual dose of trolls, hate, rage, flames etc., but I don't respond anymore. I guess I'm tired of all this foruming bullshit. Or maybe I'm just more matured now.
I still visit Facebook and play Candy Crush, the manliest game ever. I also read a few twitter feeds, some occasional tumblr and instagram. The place that I enjoy the most these days is 9gag. Yeah, yeah, it's 9fag and the funny posts are diminishing but still, one does not simply visit it without scrolling down a bit further. No matter how fail a post is, you will still scroll down hoping to see a gem. And a few more. And a bit further.
Nyan!
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