Funeral For A Friend @
Brixton[Tuesday,
May 22, 2007 @ 3:21 am]
Awesome.
This is the best word to describe the first gig I watched outside of
the Philippines. It would also be the 3rd foreign act/event I've seen
live aside from POD and Incubus.
Getting to the venue was pretty easy with one bus ride and two tube
rides. The moment you step off Brixton Station you would know that you
are in the right place since there are already people selling tickets
to the event.
Carling Academy was just a few meters from the station and can easily
be located since it can be seen from the street corner. Of course,
checking the vicinity first online via Google Maps helped as well as
following teens dressed for the event.
I snapped a picture with my camera phone before entering but I cannot
find it now. So this one of the Kaiser Chiefs should do.
The line was pretty long as it wrapped around until the back of the
building but the line moved real fast. On estimate, I'd say I spent
less than 15 minutes.
The type of ticket also didn't seem to matter as you could get in and
move from the upper area to the lower one with no problems. The tickets
cost the same anyway, so this isn't such a big thing.
Once in, there was this huge booth where merchandise was being sold.
Wanted to buy a band shirt but opted not to due to the number of people
buying. I also didn't want to carry around something in my hands the
whole night.
Decided to purchase some beer instead which was pretty expensive at
£3.30 for a large plastic cup. That's more than 300 pesos in
the
Philippines. Sorry, since I am still not earning my own money here I
multiply everything by a hundred. Oh, the girl selling beer actually
asked me for identification. Thankfully I had my trusty provisional
licence which came a week ago.
The Haunts opened just before 8 in the evening. They are okay but
nothing special. I actually sat down after 2 or 3 songs. They do seem
to be a local band though and had their own amps and drumset with their
names on it. They played around 6 songs I think.
Purchased a second cup of beer. Wanted to walk around the venue and
look for girls but that was just not me at all so I just walked and
found myself back on the same spot I was earlier.
Around 8:30, The Receiving End Of Sirens started playing. They are a
band based in Boston, MA and have been touring with Funeral For A
Friend. I have heard their songs already and they were pretty nice but
nothing special when seen live but significantly better than The
Haunts. I'd say they played around 8 songs.
Short break. Time for another beer but I didn't have any spare change
anymore and didn't want to break a £ 20 bill as one beer
would
lead to another then another.
Funeral For A Friend played around 9:30 just like what the sign said
outside the venue.
It was pretty crazy. The crowd was jumping around and
singing/screaming. Being the main band, they played more songs,
certainly more than 12 in one set. They played around 3-4 new songs and
the rest where old favorites. The songs I could remember were Into
Oblivion, All The Rage, History, She Drove Me To Daytime TV,
Juneau, Bullet Theory, Roses For The Dead, The End Of
Nothing,
Walk Away, Streetcar and Escape Artists Never Die.
Highlights of course were the amazing opener of Into Oblivion straight
into All The Rage, the hands and fingers during History, and most
especially the encore which totally blew everyone away. Sorry, but I am
not used to encores so this is quite a new thing to me. Gigs in the
Philippines do not have encores. After their set, they dimmed the
lights and everyone left on stage. However, the crowd was still there
not moving and then shouted for more as they did expect more. Then the
familiar telephone sequence could be heard over the sound system and
boom, the band was back and kicked in with Streetcar followed by Escape
Artists Never Die. The encore was real crazy and awesome.
The crowd though was quite crazy but not like crowds in big concerts in
the Philippines. I expected the worse but thankfully, didn't experience
it. Also Brits don't smell as bad as local orcs do back in Manila.
No bodysurfing was allowed in the venue. Those who bodysurf
are immediately pulled out of the crowd by the bouncers in front. There
is even a sign for this.
Tranport home was no problem either as everyone was taking the tube and
with Brixton being the last station on the Victoria line this meant two
trains waiting when we got down. I was also fortunate enough to catch a
bus right after leaving Stanmore Station or else I would have needed to
wait for 30 minutes for the next one.
With this near blissful and awesome gig as well as the ease of commute,
I'd certainly be watching more gigs and concerts in London. Hopefully
by then I'd know someone I could be with at gigs and concerts. Better
start checking out the local forums and mailing lists then.
I'd also consider bringing a decent camera next time, if I'd really
consider taking pictures as this was the best shot I got off my camera
phone.
For those who would want to watch some videos check them out
on Youtube.
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Anticipation Of A
Life-Changing Event[Friday,
May 18, 2007 @ 8:21 pm]
Tomorrow, I will be going to my first gig outside of the Philippines.
As you may know, I love watch concerts wherever it would take me. This
was the case more so in college since I lived in a dormitory close to
where all the action was. Sadly things changed when I started to work
add to this the distance I needed to travel to get anywhere.
It's almost the same here as we do live just outside of London but the
difference is I'd now be able to watch bands I could only dream about
watching while I was in the Philippines.
Thanks to Last.fm's events list I discovered that Funeral
for a Friend will be playing tomorrow. Purchased my tickets
online around two weeks ago. Received the tickets 5 days after. Sure
they cost more than any gig I've been to in the Philippines but that's
to be expected as this is London after all.
The gig will be held at Carling Academy Brixton in an area
of London that I have never been to. The gates open at 7:30
in the evening which is actually pretty early considering only 3 bands
will be playing. Funeral for a Friend is of course the main act and
they are backed up by The Receiving End of Sirens and Haunts.
I was able to download an album of The
Receiving End of Sirens and I have to say that they are quite
an interesting band. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any music by
The Haunts. I tried to google them but no relevant search results came
up.
I am real excited about the gig. There are two kinds of tickets for
sale, Stalls Standing and Unreserved Circle. Stalls Standing is closer
to the stage but would certainly be crazier. Unreserved Circle is on
the balcony up top and according to sites about the venue, the view and
acoustics from there isn't real good. I opted for the standing tickets
and I hope I don't have any regrets after since this gig will be the
gauge for all other gigs which will be held at this venue and based on
their site, there is a ton of good things to come like Head Automatica,
Incubus, and others.
As for transport, I will be relying on the tubes and buses which
operate until past midnight. With only 3 bands playing, I doubt the gig
would go past 11 in the evening. Public transport tomorrow while going
home would be the basis for all other gigs in the London area.
Here's hoping for a wonderful night with little to no worries. Cheers.
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Dubai: The Desert Oasis[Wednesday, May 16, 2007 @ 8:01 pm]
It has been slightly more than a month since I arrived here in the UK.
I would have wanted to have chronicled everything since I got here but
it seems I have been too lazy and have been wanting to post about Dubai
first before anyting else.
Since the timeline is all messed up now thanks to the Spider-Man 3
entry let me just summarize what has been going on with me in the last
month.
Dubai: The Desert Oasis
Stopped over Dubai for 4 days as the plane was
stopping there anyway
since I flew via Emirates. Also, I had a couple of friends which I
might as well visit.
I've heard beautiful things about Dubai and its rapid development. The
place is indeed beautiful despite being in the middle of the desert. As
the plane landed, I could see how proportional the streets were made
and how lovely it looked from up top. The streets are so parallel and
proportional that only a city designed in Sim City could compare.
During the first day, my friends and I went on the Desert Safari which
was really amazing. Riding all over the sand dunes, snapping pictures
with other tourists, camel riding, and the fine sand between your toes.
The whole package took at least 5 hours which was capped off with a
dinner buffet under the stars. It was pretty cool.
The second day was spent mostly with the Big Bus Tour in Dubai. It
offers a tour of Dubai on an open double decker bus. It was real
convenient as you could customize the tour for yourself as you could
get
off at any stop, wander around and catch the next bus. Also, the ticket
is good for 24 hours from the time of purchase and includes a dhow
cruise, dhow being the traditional boat they use to travel the river.
The Big Bus Tour is undoubtedly the best way to see Dubai if you've
only got a few days and I definitely recommend it to anyone. Most of my
friends who work there mentioned that I have seen more of Dubai than
they have.
The bus has two routes, the city tour and the beach tour. The city tour
mostly goes around the city center passing by malls, hotels, souks
(traditional Arabian markets for gold, spices, etc), museums and other
places of interest. The beach tour passes by the numerous hotels along
the Persian Gulf and also includes stops for the beach and Mall of the
Emirates.
Their beach is so lovely since you could really see how blue the water
is as the weather is mostly sunny all year long. Many hotels have their
own beach fronts but the public beach is more than good enough. Oh, and
let's not forget about the sexy women wearing nice outfits. The waves
are quite strong and I really wanted to take a dip but was
not able to since I was alone and did not have any swim gear on at the
time.
I haven't been to Mall of Asia much but would have to say Mall of the
Emirates is so much better. It is quite high-classed akin to a big
Rockwell or Greenbelt. It is also host to Ski
Dubai, the only indoor
ski resort in the world.
The third day was spent mostly waiting for friends at City Centre. I
walked all around the mall waiting for them and I probabaly know the
mall like most malls in Manila. City Centre isn't really huge but being
in the middle of the city, it is quite crowded.
Speaking of crowds, the people in Dubai is a mix of pretty much every
race you could imagine. I was actually surprised by the fact that there
are so many Filipinos from the fast food attendant to the sales clerk
at the sports store. Even the guy I met for the Big Bus Tour is
Filipino. It is almost like being in Manila with slightly more
foreigners around.
There is still a lot of development going on and it is actually quite
easy to find more than 100 buildings under construction. Among this is
the Burj Dubai
which will be the tallest building in the world once completed (for a
couple of years) and the Mall of Dubai which is just underneath the
Burj and will be the largest mall in the world.
The only thing about Dubai which sucks is the transport system. Right
now, the only pubic transport are numbered buses and taxis.
There
are a number of cabs but not enough to handle the number of people who
use them. The queue for cabs during the evening usually wraps around
the first floor of the mall. Buses on the otherhand are numbered and
are really crowded. There is a light railway system being built but it
won't be completed after 2010 I think. I guess they did not really
expect Dubai to grow at such a pace.
Despite the transport problem, Dubai is still quite a beautiful place
to visit. For sure, I'll be visiting the city again in a few years when
the Burj Dubai and Mall of Dubai are completed, not to mention the
railway system. Hopefully, I'll be stopping over with a special person
as well.
I think I mentioned at the start that this would be a summary of the
past month. Sorry, but I could not help myself. Well, it's not like you
really stuck around and read everything.
I also wanted to add pictures while blogging but the wireless
connection was playing up and I couldn't trace the Picasa link for each
photo. Pictures for the Desert Safari are available here.
Click here for pictures of Dubai during the Big Bus Tour.
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Movie Day Wednesday: UK Edition[Thursday, May 11, 2007 @ 12:14 pm]
Yesterday was the first time I watched a movie in theaters since I left
the Philippines. The last movie I saw was TNMT at Eastwood Cinemas.
When I was in Dubai. I wanted to try watching a movie there but with no
interesting movies being shown, I decided not too. Besides, much of my
time in Dubai was spent waiting for someone.
Anyway, I just saw Spider-man 3 yesterday after 9 days of being
released in the Philippines and 5 days from being released here in the
UK. I wanted to watch Sunshine when it was released but I knew of no
cinemas close by and from what I heard, cinemas here suck.
Such was not the case when I watched Spider-man3 at My Vue at st.
George's Center in Harrow. The cinema was decently sized though the
seats where a little too far back making the screen much smaller than
it really is. The leg room is spacious but not as spacious as the new
Sta. Lucia Premiere theaters. The seats are quite comfortable similar
to those in Greenbelt. Overall, I still love Eastwood Cinemas but the
My Vue cinema was pretty decent especially after all the exaggerated
horror stories I've heard.
I guess since it was Spidey, it was shown it their "bigger" theaters,
the others maybe smaller but that's for me to find out. With the first
movie experience out of the Philippines over, I think I'd be pretty
comfortable watching movies by myself again. Maybe 28 Weeks
Later or Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. I shouldn't have
said thatt as I would definitely watch Pirates. I could even drop by
the UK premier of the film if I can google where it would be, not to
watch it but catch a glimpse of Keira Knightley.
The movie was posted to screen at 2 in the afternoon but it did not
start until 2:30, which is so much more than Eastwood's timeliness of
being behind by at least 15 minutes. Also, do not order large softrinks
as they are indeed large like 1.5 liter large. My brother thought their
large size was similar to what we have in the Philippines but we were
surprised to find out that this was not the case here. Thankfully, it
still fit in the cup holder. Knowing how long the movie was, I hardly
took a sip from it until I knew the movie was almost ending. Oh, and I
was still able to finish the drink.
As for the ticket price, 600 Pesos for a movie maybe a little too much
but once I start earning my own money, it would hardly matter. Until I
do, I am still multiplying everything by 100.
As for the movie Spider-man 3, I was not really blown away by it as
compared to the 2nd movie. I think they crammed too much things in
Spidey 3 with 3 villians and the black costume to deal with. They could
atleast have had Venom as a minor or introductory character as a setup
for a fourth movie. Venom is big enough and could certainly carry his
own movie.
The visuals and special effects were great but the ending was such a
let down. There were also tons of things which did not make sense along
the way.
Don't get me wrong, the movie was still amazing but just not like
Spider-man 2, I guess when you reach the top there really is no where
else to go but down.
Gwen Stacy is so lovely though and I'd see it again just for her. Maybe
on a downloaded copy off the internet though.
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Philippines: The Place I
Call(ed) Home[Tuesday,
May 1, 2007 @ 4:02 am]
WTF? It's May already? Time sure passes by fast. April had to be the
weakest blog month of all with a grand total of 1 journal entry.
Amazing. I was quite occupied with a number of things.
In the past month, I have travelled so many miles and spent time in
three countries. There is actually so much which I should have blogged
while it happened. The last days in the Philippines, the four day
stopover in Dubai, and the first few weeks back in England.
Let's start with the Philippines, the country I left which would always
be the place I call home.
The first 5 days of the month also happened to be the last days in the
Philippines, the country where I have lived for the last 21 years.
Leaving the country had been at the back of my mind since graduating in
2003. I always said to myself that I'd leave after **insert random
reason here** but I kept on pushing things back be it because of
promotions or a relationship I desperately wanted.
There are a number of reasons I could mention which finally led me
across the pond but to make things shorter I'll mention two. Losing
hope and the desire to try living in a foreign country.
Hope. Such a big word which we all hold on to as we always want things
to end up in a good and totally awesome way. In my case, there would be
work and a girl.
Work had been quite enjoyable up until the last quarter of 2006 when
things suddenly turned sour. Work became more of a chore and annoyance
than something I enjoyed and liked. The promotion during the middle of
the year did not help. Calls suddenly became unusually longer which
made things more frustrating, tedious and stressful. Also, there seemed
to be no hope of ever moving up within our program in Libis. Even
though I was already earning almost as much as a team leader does, I
was still taking in calls. If I really wanted to move up, I'd have to
transfer to another program or worse, transfer to another site which
would kill me as Libis is already the closest office to home.
Another was the stress from the distance of home and work and the time
spent to get from point to point finally sinking in. I was quite used
to spending 4 hours of travel time each day until I finally realized
and most importantly, accepted the cold hard fact that home was simply
too far and I was wasting too much of my precious time. Time which I
could have put into better use such as video gaming and going out with
friends. This could easily be solved by purchasing a condo or renting
an apartment for myself, but during the time I wanted to do this, I did
not have enough money for downpayment of my own unit. Renting was not
an option back then. I wanted to own my place.
Relationships with girls in the country have always turned sour. Well,
not really sour but just not how I expected them to turn out. I've been
blogging about this stuff for years and the initial conception of this
website was caused by a hopeful relationship turned sour.
Heck,
even the title of this site cries it out.
The last one was pretty bad especially if you made yourself create in
your own mind how awesome it would be to have a relationship with this
person and how great it would be to spend the rest of your life with
her before you even courted the said girl. In this case, I was too
hopeful and when things started to fall out of place, so did my world.
Everything is great between us now and she is now in the process of
becoming a nun. Like I wittingly said in the past, at least I did not
lose her to just some guy. I lost her to The Guy who could give me the
best girl for me in the end, but I always hoped it was her. Oh, and as
I learned, I am not too hopeful about this best girl for me thing.
There has always been a desire in me to try living in a foreign country
to just experience it. The UK is not really that foreign as I was born
here but I haven't been here since 1985, so it's completely different
from what I am used to. Culture, weather, lifestyle, convenience, etc.
Most Filipinos do everything to leave the Philippines and try so hard
just to do so. I always had the option to leave any time. Mostly it is
just for the experience and seeing how I'd adopt to such a drastic
change.
With things turning sour in the country, I am talking about my life
here and not the direction the Philippines is heading, I thought it was
about time to leave.
If I like it here, then I'd most likely end up staying here for good
but if things would turn out sour (as they usually do) , I may find
myself back in the Philippines again.
Three years should be long enough to gauge things.
