Fantasy World is supposed to be the Disneyland of the Philippines. However, due to lack of investors, the development of this amusement park went kaput. Nowadays, it is one of the the popular destinations in Lemery, Batangas for sightseeing and taking photos.
Last February 2019 I finally got an opportunity to have a photoshoot there. The client was the one who booked the place. These are the keypoints on how to reserve Fanstasy World as Photoshoot venue as of this writing.
Overall fee is P6000.00
P5000.00 for the venue itself
P1000.00 entrance fee for maximum capacity of 10 people.
There is no advance reservation. This is on first come first serve basis. You would visit and book the place as photoshoot venue on the day itself.
Bringing food from outside is not allowed. There are affordable silog meals available inside. I was not able to get the specific price but they were less than P150.00 each.
They have a nice dressing room or headquarter which could be a photoshoot venue in itself.
Our Cute Model
Make-Up session
OTHER COMMENTS
To tell you the truth I didn’t like their CR. I hope they improve that in the future. The development of this amusement park may not proceed anymore but the place is still earning as tourist spot and photoshoot venue. When we were there, there were ongoing prenup and debut shoot aside from our own pre-birthday shoot. I hope it’s enough to put some attention with their CR.
But overall, Fanstasy land is a GREAT photoshoot ground. There are so much fantastic backdrops to choose from. From the lush greeneries from the sentimental feels of abandoned amusement rides. I would like to go back there myself for another fantasy themed shoot. To tell you the truth, we were caught off-guard with the weather. The sudden outpour of rain and drizzle interrupted our shoot numerous times. Photographers won’t mind being wet but our equipment were not weatherproof! I would like to have a photoshoot here with good sunny weather next time.
By the way I am the secondary photographer in this photoshoot. To have a different perspective from the main, I used 35mm fujinon lens which explains why my photos are mostly closed-up shots. Aside from photos, we also shoot the “Save the Date” video (see video at the end of this blog”. This photoshoot and video are included as a package of G2Photography Photoman and Photo Coverage which also covers the photography services on the day of the birthday party itself. If you’re interested, just click this link directing to their fb page.
Meanwhile the event organizer , props and costume including the party itself are provided by Daniela Party Needs. Click this link if you are interested with their services. Highly recommended.
I think that’s all for my short write-up. It’s time for photo flood! Please be reminded that the following featured photos were the only ones taken by yours truly.
DETAILS
Snow White
Snow White And Her Apple
Snow White and Her Castle
BELLE
CINDERELLA
BLUE PRINCESS
And here’s the “Save the Date” video which features more sights in Fantasy World. Videography and edit made by Zstarter Film.
The following photos are from G2photography, our main photographer.
Let me end this blog with a photo of a …
CAT!
I used FujiXT20 with 35mm F1.4 fujinon lens. Photos are edited through Lightroom.
That’s all folks! I hope you enjoyed this photo flood blog. Fantasy World is really a great photo venue and I think P6,000 is a affordable enough. Just be mindful of the weather so you can maximize the venue.
No doubt, I was able to spot this resort due to viral facebook posts. They were able to replicate the bird’s nest, the swing and other fixtures that I often see to almost all tourist who went to Indonesia. And the photos were really great! So when a friend from abroad came home and we needed a short getaway together, this resort easily won as a suggestion. Here are some important details and my final verdict in this resort.
HOW TO BOOK:
It was fairly easy. We just sent a message to Villa Jovita facebook page and asked for the rates of overnight rooms. At the time of our trip, only Nipa Hut Rooms are available. To reserve the room, we need to send the following details and eventually deposit P500.00 thru their BDO account within 2 days of confirming our interest to book. The rest can be paid upon checking in.
Details needed to book:
Preferred Date:
Full Name:
Contact Number:
No. of Guests: Accommodation:
HOW TO GO:
It was easy to commute too. All it takes is a bus and a tricycle. Back and forth.
Go to DLTB Bus Terminal in BUENDIA STATION and buy a ticket going to Lemery Batangas. We paid P204.00 each for the bus.
Upon arriving in the DLTB Bus Terminal in Batangas, you can easily spot tricycles around. Just mention Villa Jovita and they already know it. We paid P100.00 and that’s already for four of us.
DAY TOUR RATES:
The following rates are updated as of this writing (March 11, 2019) .
DAYTOUR : No Reservation for cottage Daytour: 8am to 6pm
A. Weekends and Holiday Rate 👉Bali Corner P250 👉Riverside Pools P100 👉All Pools P150 👉All access P400
C. Cottages are rented seperately 👉Table (P500) Good for 10-12 person 👉Table (P600) River side Good for 10-12 person 👉Open Hut (P800) Good for 10-12 person 👉Umbrella (P300) Good for 3-4 person
OTHER NOTES 👉No CORKAGE Fee 👉No Reservation and Room Accomodation 👉First Come First Serve
KUBO ACCOMMODATION FOR OVERNIGHT:
We got a KUBO for 2-3 persons for the price of P3000. We were four in the group but they allowed it since they think we would still fit in there. It has two bedrooms, one was an ordinary room, one was a mezzanine type room which was quite small. They provide two electric fans. It has no own C.R.
It comes with bedding and blankets. However, the towels were by request. There were no free shampoos and soap. So remember to bring them.
RESTAURANT and STORE
I love their adobo binalot! I ordered it as dinner and breakfast. They also have silog meals, cup noodles and frappe.
BALI CORNER
Of course, we came here for their highlight feature and took a lot of pictures. Here are the outputs. This would show a glimpse of the things you can see here.
PHOTOSHOOT RATES
I didn’t avail the photoshoot rates since the photos are non-formal and for fun. But since I saw debut photos in their fb page, I asked anyway.
This is not the only pools available. They have a pool with a slide but I was not able to take photos on that one.
Comfort Room
This is what I least like I suppose. I guess since this resort is popular and given the price, I expected something more. There is no any mirror in it where they could have easily install it with the big space in the sink area. There is only three shower area and one of them is not functioning. But their toilet has bidet so they got points for that. Overall, I won’t say it’s super dirty but it’s not that clean either. Their CR needs upgrading.
Final Verdict
❤️ What I like: the Bali Corner is really great for photoshoots and play-pretend you were in Indonesia. I also like that someone is closely monitoring the people in there for safety. I seriously love their binalot available in the restaurant. I also like their riverside pools because of the relaxing nature views. Additionally, It’s near Manila and easy to locate.
😠What I don’t like: They seriously need to upgrade their CR. I think with the overnight fee for the Kubo (P3000.00), they should have at least provided free shampoos or soap just like other resorts.
🙋 Gurezu rating: 3 out of 5 stars!
Hope you enjoy my another travel blog. It’s been more than a month since my last blog. February was a busy month for me and I got a lot of stories to tell. I hope my mind and hands could catch up!
Our real Palawan adventure began on our Day 3 in the island. We barely have enough sleep from the wedding event and the hours of traveling but we managed to wake up early. I mean we have to.
In El Nido, Palawan, tours are usually divided in to groups most commonly known as Tour A, B, C, and D. Each tour has its destinations. We only got two days left to explore the El Nido beaches so we couldn’t take all tours. When we asked the locals at the tour port, they recommended combination of tour A and C.
So for our day 3, we proceeded with tour A. The highlight of this tour was definitely the Kayaking Experience in Big and Small Lagoon. I didn’t help my team to row the boat because I was busy taking the video on how we entered the small lagoon through a narrow rock opening. It was specially hard because you have to wait for your turn and it took a while with a large number of tourist lining up also to enter the lagoon. But the hassle was all worth it. The water was perfect and the view was just magnificent. Below is the short clip of our Kayaking experience. The rest are some of the photos from each Tour A destination.
Big Lagoon
Our tour barely started and yet I am already hungry.
The boatmen were cooking our lunch already and I can’t help but to feel awfully hungry. We haven’t reached the first destination yet.
A Girl in a Red Bikini Manning the Ship. Well I have to divert my attention from the food. So it’s time to strut that red bikini I specifically bought for this trip.
We are already in Big Lagoon. I made it seem like its a stolen pic but it’s obviously not.
Awrahan in Big Lagoon. My beach shoes did not go well with my Bikini. But I have to wear this to avoid sharp rocks and corals.
He’s a Buko (Coconut) Vendor sailing while selling fresh Buko to the thirsty tourists. And also some softdrinks.
Selfie with my travel buddies. We still have the curls from the yesterday’s wedding.
I spotted a hot looking foreigner couple kayaking over there. Damn, they got the beach bodies.
Ahhh Vitamin Sea
Ahh this is life! Fresh Air! Sparkling Sea. Good weather.
Small Lagoon
Waiting to enter Small Lagoon with other tourists. Obviously a box-office.
Looking back to Big Lagoon while we we were still waiting.
Finally here in Small Lagoon. We barely have photos here because I was afraid our boat will turn upside down if I move a lot. But hey, we didn’t come here for photos anyway. Just enjoy the ride.
Secret Lagoon
This is the small opening for the Secret Lagoon which is not a secret anymore because we were already here.
This lagoon not so special actually.
Maybe what made secret lagoon special is the difficulty of getting here. Our other two travel buddies did not make it due to strong waves. I was actually in the waters when I thought of backing out and swimming back to the boat. But the tour guide did not let me. Instead he pulled me into the waters until we reached the shore. It was hell of a journey.
Our tour guide which is also our photographer. He’s the one who did not let me go back to the boat when I freaked out. At least he proved that everything will be alright. And we managed to get here safely.
One of the reasons I freaked out was I did not trust my waterproof bag. My precious and expensive cameras were in there and I jumped into the water for the first time with it. Thankfully, it was reliable indeed. It also became my salbabida (floater).
The shore outside the secret lagoon looks more awesome. It’s time for more red bikini action.
A Girl in a Red Bikini Standing Beside Big Stones
Lunch Time on the Boat.
Damn those boatmen are excellent cook!
Eggplant Salad or Ensaladang Talong is a simple Filipino Salad composed of grilled eggplant, tomatoes, and onions. This is eaten as a side dish and is best if partnered with grilled fish and meat; it can also be eaten along with fried dishes such as crispy pata and lechon kawali. –from panlasangpinoy.com
Oh my God! These food were all cooked while we were sailing on the boat. Imagine the agony.
It looks like I was just taking photos but I’m actually guarding the food. Waiting for the go signal to attack!
The presentation is awesome.
Grilled Pork! It’s no time for diet today.
7 Commando Beach
Rumor says it was called 7 Commando Beach because 7 soldiers used to live here. But other than that, there’s no more in-depth story about those soldiers. And if they are true,
The tour guide got this photoshoot idea.
Rare photo of four out of seven soldiers who are said to live in this island.
That ends Day 3 of our Palawan Adventure. My favorite in tour A was the the 7 commando beach because it was really beautiful even from the distance. El Nido Palawan is truly a paradise and I totally recommend to all the foreigners who would want to visit the Philippines to never miss this place. But of course, we Filipinos should not miss this one too.
Tune in for our Day 4. There, I will talk about the affordable accommodation we took here in El Nido,Palawan.
No fancy words for this posts. Just cats! I visited my friend’s condo that looks like cat cafe’ in general and my camera was with me. So you probably now what happened. Who can resist the itch if you have these cuties in front of you?
Yo cats gonna drop their newest album
That golden cat continues to judge me.
Obviously my favorite. His name is Taiga.
If you’re wondering what they are looking at, they are waiting for food.
Feed me!
FEED ME!
FEED US!
This one turned out to be creepy but still cute.
Finally, the waiting is over.
Happy Ending for Everyone
Yum!
My photos are kind of noisy because the place was lacking ambient light and I have to lower the shutter speed and pumped up the ISO to compensate. Even so, the original photos turned to be really dark and just have Lightroom helped me with that.
Sample Original Photo:
Exposure , Black and Shadow adjusted in Lightroom.
Yo cats gonna drop their newest album
I’ll be coming back for more photos. I couldn’t go in daytime so the ambient light would sill not be there. Will try another lens that would be better in low-light I guess.
I hope you enjoy these photos. Are you a cat lover too? How do you catches cat’s attention aside from food?
I just want to share how I’m so delighted with this restaurant. And it’s not hard to tell that the reason was it is instagrammable. (Well aside from the food food). We came here after we had dinner in Firefly Roofdeck DiningFirefly Roofdeck Dining. Our stomachs were already full so we were just looking for desserts and for more pictures. Filling Bar Station Cafe’ was just perfect. I heard that the milkshakes here were great. More importantly, this restaurant is popular because this is “Riverdale-inspired”. I was not watching Riverdale but it was still thrilling how this restaurant transports you to old American restaurants in the 50’s.
Restaurant: Filling Bar Station and Cafe’
Cuisine: American
Exact Location: 5012 P Burgos, Makati, 1210 Metro Manila
This car fixture is the highlight of the resto. It’s actually just one of the tables which you can occupy with minimum consumable order of P 3000.00 .
and the photoshoot ensued.
Most kids nowadays probably has not experienced calling by this rotating dial phone.
Fooling around with Elvis Presley.
And now enjoying the milkshakes. I must say the milkshakes tasted great. One of the best!
My brother insisted on tea only because he’s on a diet. But he wanted to take a photo and pretend he’s drinking beer.
Will I go back here? Of course! We only spent 1 hour only here and there are too many fixtures to interact to.And there’s the food I haven’t tried yet. . I even didn’t catch the details for the milkshakes. Maybe I’ll go back with my friends next time. It’s perfect for late night chikahan since it’s open for 24 hours.
Repeating the details:
Restaurant: Filling Bar Station and Cafe’
Cuisine: American
Exact Location: 5012 P Burgos, Makati, 1210 Metro Manila
FIREFLY ROOFDECK DINING!
No reservation needed! No entrance fee. You also don’t need to leave an ID in the hotel reception. Have a taste of feeling elite while enjoying the Makati City View in Firefly Roofdeck Restaurant. Located at the 32nd floor of City Garden Grand Hotel in Makati. Complete address is 8008 Makati Avenue, Corner Kalayaan, Makati, 1200 Manila, Philippines. Super easy to locate thru Grab.
Why this place is great?
Well first and foremost, you’ll get to enjoy the skyscraper’s view of Makati. The city lights makes the atmosphere romantic. That’s why most people dining here are couples.
2. It’s not only for couples. This place is also great for portrait shoots. Just like what I did with my family. I brought them here because I was looking for a new place to celebrate my birthday. And then I learned about this place through the web. It was an abrupt plan actually. But because they are with me, they know I chose this place for instant photoshoot session.
3.Affordable food. Well of course it’s a little bit more expensive. But considering the atmosphere and the view, this is now affordable compared to most high-end restaurants. They offer different cuisine ranging from Spanish, Filipino, Japanese and Korean. They also offer beer and cocktails.
Lechon Sisig for P350.00. This is already okay for 2-3 servings.
To give you an idea, here’s a glimpse on the menu. The Japanese and Korean dishes are in buffet package in P800+. This is grabbed from zomato.com
Pasta is popular with the dating couples here.
The veranda seats has waiting list and can only accommodate up to 3 persons only. But for the seats inside, there is no waiting list. And you can freely take photoshoots in veranda as well.
So if you’re in Manila and thinking of a romantic dinner with your partner, you can now consider Firefly Roofdeck Dining.
If you have other places that offer the same dining on a roofdeck around Manila, please leave a comment below. I’ll gladly visit it.
It’s not too late for everything ❤
GUREZU
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Let’s connect!
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It’s been almost a month since my last blog post. So let me complain a bit, the passing of time is ridiculous! I mean ..what the hell?
I was so busy lately but I never run out of the things to write. I have done a load of photoshoot and traveled Palawan. But checking my pile of backlog albums became overwhelming. Just sorting my Palawan pics is tiresome already. There’s too many things to write about but I don’t know where to start so I ended up slacking off. But it makes me sad. It feels like I am lacking as a person when I don’t blog or write for a long time. Do you feel the same thing blogger people?
So today, I promised myself to blog no matter what. Even it looks so-so. Just break this blocker mindset that has been keeping my flow. I decided to blog about my self-portrait shoot.
I have done this shoot on the night of August 27, 2018. This is our last night in El Nido, Palawan. We were staying at St. John Island View Pensionne House. They have this cute small bar but tourist seems not giving it attention. I guess people were mostly tired from the tour so they are likely just retreat in their rooms rather than spend some time at the mini-bar.
My friends and I would like to have pictures there but we ended up mostly straight to the bed once we had dinner. On our last night though, even I am so tired myself, I pushed myself to snap photos. Even just for a while. So I went there alone. Armed with a camera mounted on my small tripod, I had my self-portrait session. It’s not every day you have the whole bar for yourself. But when it happened, I don’t drink. I’ll have a photoshoot. Haha!
So here it is. I set my camera in timer with interval mode. Every batch, I have 10 photo snaps in 5 seconds interval. It looks like a papparazi shots, just slower. My camera as always is Fuji-XA3. I didn’t use presets this time is there’s too much color already which I love.
There are empty bottles on display. I get one of those as props. Looks like its okay since no one from the reception bothered me.
When will I be truly,sincerely happy?
Tired with life
I drowned my problems with beer. But problems are damn good swimmers
Props to me. I do looks like I’m sort of drunk. I’m actually just feeling really sleepy.
Getting another drink because I can’t get enough.
“Let’s make ipit para it looks like malaki, haha!”
There’s a ton of pictures actually but most are blurred since I’m transitioning from one position to next. I must have looked like a fool. But thankfully, there was no people around. The receptionist were just silently supporting from a far. When I was done, that’s the only time they turn the lights-off. They must have been waiting for me for a long time. I think I shoot for an hour. Haha!
And that’s a wrap! I’m now in full smile because I managed to write a blog. Even if it’s so-so. Small step to get my writing energy back.
How about you? Did you experience this “I want to write, but I can’t just write” sort of thing? How did you overcome it? Any tips?
I don’t really know how to do that in real life. Ask David Blaine maybe? But in photography, I could definitely share you some secrets . And this is surprisingly easy.
First Technique: Photoshop
What you will need: Camera, Tripod, a flexible model and stool or blocks for support.
1.Capture a photo of the background without the subject.
2. And then capture the photo with the subject. Take in mind that the camera was not moved and the lighting are the same with the background alone. For better stability, I strong advice to use tripod. This would make the editing easier and realistic.
3. Now, it’s time to open Photoshop to merge the two photos together and delete the objects that supports the subject by “Masking” tool. In that case, follow my recommended YouTube tutorial below. I assure you, this masking tool in Photoshop is MAGIC!
As you have noticed, the color grading of the photos have also changed in the final output. It’s because I also polished it via Lightroom desktop app. I used Rufosque preset created by Anthony Rufo. I got this preset from Lightroom Classrom PH community in Facebook. If you’re interested with Lightroom presets, I talked about it more here.
2. Second Technique: Jump Shots
If you are not interested with Photoshop, you can still achieve levitation photos by simply jumping and setting the camera in LOW SHUTTER SPEED.
The following photos are captured by my friend angelisantina and was taken way back 2013! This is me 5 years ago. I’m not much into photography back then but I’m into modeling …well to my photographer friends.
This is largely inspired by yowayowacamera.com, a Japanese photographer whose daily levitation photos became a worldwide hit! These are just some photos from her series that I really liked.
Now the question is, how would you make an ordinary jump shot into levitation photo? As a model for levitation photos myself, the key is always the facial expression. As much as possible, make your face look relax. It also helps that you look upwards as if you are heading to that direction even if you are about to fall down. Leg muscle should look relaxed too. In that matter, it would be easier to wear long dresses and leggings to hide the tension in the leg muscles for higher jumps. No doubt why in most yowayowa’s photos, she is wearing long dresses.
Although here, I bravely wore jumper shorts haha! These photos were taken at Quiapo church, a popular landmark church in the Philippines.
There are disadvantages of this technique though:
This is tiring as you need to repeatedly jump to be able to have good shots.
You will look like a fool for passerbys.
Prone to accident
Not ok at night time since low shutter speed will make your photos really dark.
We also had a shoot in UP Diliman!
Shot location at Little Tokyo
Special thanks to the following!
To my mentor G2Photography for teaching me how to edit in Photoshop and all things I know about Photography.
Huh? It’s Wednesday already? What happened to Monday and Tuesday? Haha! The passing time is really getting on my nerves!!!
I actually know what happened last two days. I woke up, get to work, go home and chat with my friends about the Chiong Murder Case. Tuesday was the same. The documentary “Give Up Tomorrow” really hit the sensibilities of the people in social media. I know there are a lot of things going on in our country: extra-judicial killings per se but I guess, people now realize that weight of being wrongly convicted. In the case of Paco, its already 21 years and its still counting. Who won’t be afraid. ? Having talked with people who believe he is innocent and guilty, having read the commentaries and Supreme Court files, I think I am ready to release my own verdict soon.
Here’s the documentary aka horror story. Try watching it and ask yourself. Is Paco really innocent? Does he deserve death penalty?
But for the mean time, what happened today was this
1. I WAS NOT FEELING WELL and I stayed in the dorm all day. I edited my pictures from Luljetta Hanging Gardens and my album in our Levitation Photography Session. This is the result of my edit for today.
Obviously, levitation photography is a technique that will make the subject look he’s floating on air. Our model in this picture was an officemate. He’s our videographer actually but can pass as a model as you can see! Haha! This photoshoot was done last month. Talk about procrastination! Ahahaha!
July 19, 2018, Thursday
Woah! It’s Thursday already? Seriously are you kidding me?
Nothing much has happened today. As usual I went to work. It was raining all day. We can see outside through the glass walls and damn there was 0 visibility. I was supposed to attend a photography seminar and yet again, I would not dare to deal the Edsa traffic because of the rain. And besides I got an issue to solve.
Yesterday I was absent right? Now my office mates are jokingly asking me what happened to my “job interview” yesterday. I told them I really did not feel well and I stayed in my room. So they concluded that I just had a Skype interview then hahah! They don’t really believe me haha!
My friends and I did not talk about Paco anymore. Yesterday we discussed that we should move on already. Whether or not the allegations are true, nothing will happen if the case would not be re-opened. Major tv station seems not to mind the chaos happening in social media. They used to catch the latest thing but they seem eerily silent about it. Hmmm.. Meanwhile the reviews for “Jacqueline Comes Home” finally arrived and all of them are saying its a trash movie. That it did not portray even the Chiong side accurately. But well, movie is really like that right?
I went home, ate my dinner then open my laptop to continue my levitation photography editing. I’ll be sharing the full set soon in another post. For now, I’ll be sharing a silhouette photo that I also took during the same session. I edited this in Adobe Lightroom using Rufosque preset.
It’s 2 am already. I’m still awake and awfully hungry. I’ll grab something to eat then hit the sack! I predict I’ll be having a hard time waking up tomorrow and regret that I did not sleep early. Hahahahah!
July 20, 2018 Friday
1. WOKE UP LATE. REGRETED SLEEPING LATE.
2.WORK
3.RAIN. FLOOD.
4. MATCHA GREEN TEA FRAPPE
5. EAT. GO HOME.
6. IT’S LATE AGAIN. 1:11 am. But the great thing is its Saturday tomorrow. I wonder how long my sleep for tonight.
July 21, 2018 Saturday
As expected, I woke up at around 1pm. This is way past breakfast and even late for lunch. But I deserve all this sleep. I don’t feel guilty. But still, I could warp my body clock a bit. Nothing beats waking up early and getting lot of shits done before lunch.
Suppose to be, today I have a reunion outing to attend. But because of the weather and bad flood, it was cancelled. Good thing because this weather is making me feeling lazy for adventures.
I decided to take the first meal of the day in a nearby cafe’.
I have paid the bill when a mysterious song began. I can’t grasp the lyrics but the melody is so sweet and romantic. I pictured myself suddenly in a middle of a night, slow-dancing with a tall man. It was not sark becausethe night was clear and there are fireflies flying and dancing around us. I must find that song!
I was about to record some bits of the song for later research when it faded away and replaced by a Katy Perry song. I approached the staff of the cafe’ and ask what was the song. He said he did not notice or aware what the song was before katy pery. And also the pkaylist was shuffled in spotify. We looked at rhe playlist so we could figured it out. I even hummed the tune to narrow down the choices. We played two songs before the mystery was sokved! I took a photo of the screen to take a note of the title. It was Flightless Bird, American Mouth by Iron & Wine. Hmm the title sounds interesting
I bid goodbye to that helpful staff.
After that I packed my things and booked a trip to Glorietta mall. I need to do some errands related to ny finance then have to do some shopping.
I am lucky that viral pianist grandpa was here at the mall.
I saw him in Facebook already because some appreciative audience uploaded his video and it went viral. Lolo is like a casual mall visitor. It happens that there is a piano display which is free for anyone to play with and he decided to take the sit. After that, he visits here more often. Lolo is not only good but full of energy in his performances. One could not help but sing. He’s so approachable and even accepts requests. Now, he enjoys playing this piano regularly and everyone can now support him by giving money in his small “Marks and Spencer” bag beside the piano. I won’t mind because he gives performances nothing short of spectacular.
Of course I can’t let this moment pass by without my own recording of this Amazing Granpa…and some of my singing too with bits of “yehey” and “wow”.
Can’t Help Falling In Love
Quando, Quando, Quando
I think I finished three songs before I moved on. I have to buy new bb cream, lipstick and some toiletries. I also in the mood for new clothes. I alot monthly budget for that.
This me in the fitting room with the blazer I ended up not buying.
I finished my shopping with a small time hang-out in Starbucks. It was not in my plan but the the rain was heavy and my mobile phone battery was almost drained. I charged it in Starbucks while I drink another cup of hot coffee. After that I booked a ride back to my original home.
My sister and mother were having dinner when I arrived. My sister immediately ransacked my shopping paper bag . They teased me because I bought new lipstick again!!! My sister opened it and applied the lippie immediately. She liked it.
While upstairs, my sister and I talked about random funny things we saw in the internet. I opened my laptop and researched about that mysterious song that captivated me today. I also made my sister listen to it. To my surprise, the song lyrics looks like it is not a love song at all. The lyrics doesn’t even make sense if you don’t spend time thinking deeper about it. It’s deep. One can have its own interpretation. Where it is a love song or not, it’s up to you.
Here’ s a lyric video. Another trivia, its part of the OST of Twilight movie series. I’m not a fan that’s why I don’t know.
I got an interesting interpretation of this song from songmeanings.com
IMO, there are dual, yet similar, themes running through this song: (1) an individual’s loss of innocence/idealism; and (2) the degradation/dissolution of the mythical “American” dream.
The first verse sets our protagonist as an innocent child (quick, wet, diving too deep) – newly born, baptized, full of energy/enthusiasm, carefree. We get a glimpse of what’s to come through the “blind” eyes of the adult world whom the child can already see seem focused on material things (“plastic toys”). The “cops” (his own adulthood) crash the party and he’s forced to grow up and give up his pure youthful enjoyment of life (cut his baby hair). Thus, he begins his quest to find his meaning/life in this adult American landscape. For me, it also brings to mind the end of the idealism of the peace/protest movement of the late 60’s…the system crushes the uprising…the hippies cut their hair…and wander off…going on to what?
Well, the second verse tells us exactly where our protagonist’s journey has landed him…a big fat safe spot with the adults of his youth. He’s achieved the “American Dream”, or has he? Now all talk and no action. He curses himself and the wrong/injustice he sees around him, yet he idly sits and watches these “poison rats” (the establishment, big business, corrupt government) slither by and destroy his ideal world. He bides his time in his magazines, finding pleasure in viewing some advertisement of folks fishing in some idyllic river. He is not out there himself, but even if he was, he would be merely pillaging/ruining/sacrificing a place of nature (“blood of christ mountain stream”).
It’s a really depressing song, but it’s certainly beautiful.
How about you? What could you interpret with this song? I would really love to know!
July 22, 2018. Sunday
I got a lot of things to say today. I think today was productive. But damn I was not able to sleep properly last night. I think I’m not used to sleeping in my original home anymore. I went back early to my dormitory because I badly needed sleep. It’s 9:54pm now as I write this. I want to write more but my body needed rest. By the way, I have done some editing and uploaded it in Facebook. Here are they.
I also did a capsule review of Marugame Noodles. I decided not to write a separate wordpress blog post for the mean time because my mobile photography was not so good. I did not do justice to a great-tasting food.
And I haven’t shared my the full output of my Levitation Photography edits. Here it is, uploaded since yesterday. I’ll be writing a separate blog post of my editing photography and editing process for this. Check it out soon! And please follow my Facebook page Gurezu Blog too!
That’s all for now. I’ll be sleeping before 10 pm for the first time in many moons. Is this the start of a new life from being night owl to morning person? Let’s see!!!
I decided to start journaling again because I think I am losing the ability to write. So every day I’ll add bits and bits here in my draft. Hope I can do this consistently.
July 10, 2018. Tuesday.
The meeting with foreigners at work that caused me a bit of anxiety and panic since last week was finally finished earlier. It went great! As usual, when I’m nervous, I covered it up with being talkative and cheerful. It works for me. It works also with past job interviews. I guess its not a downside after all.
Earlier, someone from the past reached out to me in social media. Being associated with that person was one of the lowest point of my life. But I’m glad it did not do much chaos in my life because I still had sense of righteousness back then. But I didn’t regret what happened. I just won’t want to waste my time and emotional energy again now I am in much better place. So I eventually ignored him. That’s the only right thing to do.
I think that’s all for today. I’m going to write about my friend’s short film about “Ang Byahe ni Marlon”. I am so ecstatic for my friend because the film won the best film in the recent “Istorya ng Pag-asa film festival”. Anyway I’ll reserve other info in other blog. Nightie!
June 11, 2018. Wednesday.
This is indeed a busy day at work. Gah!
There is a funny thing that was discussed at work. I told you yesterday that I met some of the foreigner colleagues from the another team I work with for the first time. Earlier we had a meeting again and this time, I met other Filipino members of their team. The foreigners were surprised to know that that was the first time I met the members who are just working at the same building, just few floors away from me. I’ve been talking with them thru skype almost everyday. We work very near with each other and yet, the first people I met personally from their team were the one’s who came from abroad ahahah. Isn’t that ironic?
Anyway after work, we had a photoshoot practice again with my manager. We are trying how to do the shutter drag effect. . It was really tiring but we did learn something on how to set up the lights to achieve it. By the way, since this is still a practice , we didn’t invite a model yet. I am the model for this practice shoot. I was not prepared. Haha .
Anyway I haven’t had a copy of the photos since we need to go home and we were hungry. I will get it tomorrow and post it here. So excited!
July 12, 2018. Thursday.
Busy day today. I was supposed to attend a stocks investment seminar but I was caught up with tasks at work. Anyway my friend finally released some pics from last nights photoshoot. But for the meantime, these are behind the scene photos.
July 13, 2018, Friday
Gosh. Before I slept last night, I watched a documentary…and I ended up sleeping at 2am. It is entitled “Give up Tomorrow” . This is about a sensationalized case way back 1997 wherein Paco , a half Filipino, half-Spanish was misjudged and misconvicted as the documentary claimed. I got hooked and shocked. It showed how fucked up the judicial system here in the Philippines.When I woke up the next morning, it was the first thing I thought. Paco, by the way, is still serving in Spanish prison. He’s working as a chef at daytime but still sleeps in prison at night.
To tell you the truth, I am convinced that Paco is innocent. The docu is obviously in favor of Paco. But it includes real-life interviews of the judge, the police, the accuse and the witnesses so it was really hard not not be carried away and be suspicious that there was indeed conspiracy! Not only but a lot of people in social media are now expressing their feelings about this documentary.
But I’ll make it a point that I’ll hear other side because that would be unfair. But let’s leave that for now. My friend finally released my shutter drag photos! Yehey!
I attended Social Media Mastermind Seminar. I arrived one-hour late actually. What I learned? Hmm.. Well my main takeaway was this generation is now more on “stories”. And this generation prefers videos among others. People are more convinced if the presenter is moving and has good stories to tell
I ate at Marugame Udon finally at Glorietta. This Japanese restaurant always have long waiting line. It discourages me every time. But today, I realized I am not that hungry and I have energy to wait. Well, it turns out that even if there indeed long line, they serve really fast. And yes its delicious. What more? It’s not that expensive compared to another Japanese favorite food ramen. I’ll be writing a separate blog about it.
3. The debate about Paco’s innocence are flaring up everywhere in social media. More and more people are watching the documentary Give-Up Tomorrow. This documentary is like watching a horror movie, only it happens or is still happening in real life
July 15, 2018. Sunday
Hiighlight of my day would be I was able to attend church at the “The Feast” with my sister. I was actually feeling lazy because of the rain. And I am so engrossed with reading the commentaries about the Chiong Murder Case. That one really hyped me. I could not deny it. There are more theories spreading. Now it involves drug syndicate and corruption. But anyway I’m happy that I still went to “The Feast” in spite of me being lazy. It really encouraged me that I am not alone this time. The talk for today was about dealing with depression which is very timely right? And I’m happy that the Feast understands that depression is a disease rather than just mere sadness.
Just like what JC Libiran said, when you have cold or cough for 2 to 3 days, it is still not serious. But it went on for weeks or months there must be something wrong! You need to consult a doctor. The same with depression. To feel sad and hopeless is normal, but if it went on for weeks or months , you don’t ignore it. You have to seek help too. I also like that they advised not to say “Kulang ka sa faith. Have faith in God” While this is a sincere advise, it won’t help a clinically depressed person that much. Depression is a medical condition and it needs medical consultation.
If you are not familiar with “The Faeast”, it is a catholic gathering every Sunday. A session comprises of a Mass then worship then a practical talk. I’ll probably write more about it in the future.
GUREZU 