An Alright Start
Click to viewI am truly in love with Sigur Rós. It’s weird how their songs are uplifting and happy, but since it’s gibberish and Icelandic, you pretty much have to fill in the blanks for you to get the sense of their music. The fact that it’s gibberish allows one to put their chosen emotion to the music.
Francis told me that the first time he heard Sigur Rós, he felt like crying. I, on the other hand cried insanely the first time I heard Sigur Rós alone. Ágætis Byrjun, which roughly translates to An Alright Start is all about finding someone new, and sharing wonderful moments with that someone. Fuck it, when I listened to it without even knowing what the lyrics meant, I became filled with random emotions that even I could not explain.
Anyway, if I were you just grab all their albums and make your own interpretations about their songs. It’s a fun thing to do, I swear.
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Today, mom woke me up and asked me to accompany her. Apparently, our weekly remittance arrived and we’re in dire need of moolah. Good papa always gets the correct timing. After 15 minutes in that scary old building in Ortigas, we’re suddenly loaded. Mom went on and bought us two Pizzas and did her shopping at a Garage sale over at Greenhills. I didn’t buy anything… I had other plans.
It seemed that we’re off to visit our relatives at Sta. Ana. That means, I’ll get to visit Quiapo since it’s just one jeep away. Hooray! Mom gave me some cash and then I was off to the ever-so majestic place called Quiapo.
My batteries went dead upon arriving at Quiapo-Quiapo, hence I forgot to text Tomi or even someone from Lomomanila. Tomi went to Quiapo to buy some cymbals, and there’s a Newbie Photo Op with various dudes from Lomomanila. So, I walked like a chimpanzee around the vicinity of Quiapo.
First stop: Quiapo-Quiapo.
Took a couple of el cheapo DBDs with me. Juno, a live-action Ben 10 for my brothers, Rocket Science, The Nines, Atonement, oh and a really really good copy of Across The Universe. Over at the HMV stalls, I managed to grab Clerks. 1 and 2, the dudes won’t let me buy Clerks. only, so I bought Clerks 2 again. Also grabbed some copies of Persepolis, 4 months 3 weeks 2 days, Lust Caution, and Paris, Je’taime. Woah, it’s as if I’m having a Cinemanila Film Festival right in the comfort of my own apartment.
Oh yeah, I also grabbed the new Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, and Mariah Carey concerts. They’re 3 for 100 and I’m a sucker for faggy pop music. Sue me.
Second Stop: Hidalgo
Since I started with my stint at lomography, Hidalgo suddenly became a magical place. Before, I used to just pass by it so I could reach Good Earth Plaza. But now, I enter almost every shop looking for inexpensive toy cameras and expired films.
Seems like today was a good day for inexpensive toy cameras and expired films.
Meet my new lomobabies… Teh Cunting Daughters. Cunting Daughter No. 1 and Cunting Daughter No. 2.
Cunting Daughter No. 1 (left) and Cunting Daughter No. 2 (right)
Since these 28mm Vivitar cameras (San Miguel Beer edition) costs 50 pesos each, I decided to buy two. I also heard they’re flimsy and easily destructible. So, if Cunting Daughter No. 1 fucks up, I’ll have Cunting Daughter No. 2 with me. Or vice versa.
Inexpensive Toy Camera. Check! Now… for expired films.
I asked the lady from One-Ten (where I got the cheap toy cameras) for some expired rolls, but alas she said that a horde of newbies from the Lomomanila Newbie Photo Op already beaten me into those wonderful expired rolls. Epic Fail.
But you know, there’s always Megacolors. So I ran towards it, and there they were; hundreds and hundreds of expired Fuji Superias. 20 pesos for 24 shots, and 25 pesos for 36 shots. Since I heard these San Miguel Vivs would work best (and live longer) if you used 24 shots instead of 36 shots, I bought 5 rolls of each exposures. 5 for teh Cunting Daughters and another 5 for my Holga (whose arrival, I anxiously await).
FILMS! Glorious Films!
Used a roll of expired film for Cunting Daughter No. 1 and went on to shoot without thinking around Quiapo and on my way home. Awesome. I have yet to see the results. I did mostly drive-by shootings while riding in the front seat of the fleeting jeepney.
And so, here I am. Today was generally “write film reviews” day but then again, you’ll never know when your mom would wake you up and bring you along with her on a riotous journey towards the infinite abyss. Okay, I’m exaggerating.
Field trip approximately starts in 6 hours. I’m not yet packed, nor have I slept. I’ll sleep on the bus. If not, I’ll read Gossip Girl. I’ll treat the entire trip to the beach as one big Lomographic moment. I’ll bring along Cunting Daughter No. 1 and Crowe. This’ll be fun. Plus, my mom’s cooking adobo for tomorrow. And I secretly stashed the Mountain Dew bottle with some Vodka.
This’ll be awesome.
As Sigur Rós always say in Hopelandic/Icelandic: Við Lifðum Í Öðrum Heimi. Þar Sem Vorum Aldrei Ósýnileg. Translation? Make your own. (Well, fine. It actually means “We lived in another world where we were never invisible.“)