LifeTrack: Let's Do This!

"Music makes the people come together." - Madonna.

Killin' it with mah boys—the Hamilton College Buffers.

Music undeniably touches each of our souls in many different ways. Some of us love Rock, others Pop, others R & B, and others yet, Country. But with no doubt in my mind, for all of us, there is always music.

When I walk down the street, or when I clean my room, there is almost always a song in my head (or most likely on my lips). I sometimes take 30-minute showers with only about seven minutes of actual showering and the rest is devoted to my own private concert for the tiles. I even sometimes bust into song while walking through the mall or while strolling down the street. My life most definitely has an ever-present soundtrack.

I've always loved music, and I've always wanted to do a blog series featuring some of my favorite songs and why I love them.

Songs; whether it's with their lyrics, the story, the beat, or its mood; have a way of evoking an emotional response. Sometimes an event is brought to mind, sometimes a place, an emotion or a special person. I wanted to not only feature certain songs, but to also share what they mean to me, and what they make feel, when I want to hear them the most, and most of all, who they make me think of. 

As a blessing in disguise, the first time I tried to embed a video from YouTube onto my blog was unsuccessful. I guess it was due to copyright reasons, etc. which made borrowing vids and posting them on personal pages impossible.

Well, for quite a while now, many of my friends have been egging me to post videos of me singing, and since I can't post 'official' music videos of songs I love on here, I got the push to actually go and do it: I'm gonna sing the songs I'm going to feature

I love making things for the people I love. Plus singing the songs makes it that much more personal.

Another source of inspiration to really go ahead and do this came from an unlikely place:

Anne Curtis-Smith's Annebisyosa Concert

Beetling, Beets and Me waiting for the show to start.

Annebisyosa is a play on the word ambisyosa. It doesn't quite translate to ambitious... In fact it has more of a pejorative connotation. Telling someone they're ambisyosa is equatable to saying: "Dream on."

Spotlight Anne Curtis. A self-proclaimed non-singer (no kidding! But what she lacks in vocal talent is more than made up for by guts and gusto), Anne has always dreamt of staging her own concert despite being, let's face it, kinda' tone-deaf. I'll admit, I was a bit hesitant on the way to Araneta Coliseum last Saturday night. Oh gosh, how much of this girl's voice can I possibly take?! Surely not three hours... I thought to myself. But, boy was I wrong.

The production was amazing! I had so much fun watching the concert, from the over-the-top fashion and costume changes, the spectacular guests, the pyrotechnics and videos, and the HOT dancers, I was thoroughly entertained. Seriously, after the first two songs I was this close to jumping on stage and wild-ing out.

Here are a few pics from the concert:

Anne with the G Force Angels.

The dancers were seriously hot. I felt like I needed to smoke a cigarette after each pelvic-thrusting performance. Plus I loved the costumes! Male dancers stepped onto the stage in tuxedos and heels!

Part of the concert's success comes from the nods given to some of Music's top female icons. You will see hints of Cher, Katy Perry, Madonna and Kylie to name a few, in most of the production numbers and styling choices.

♫ Baby, you're a firework! ♫

♫ How do I get you ALOOOONE!? ♫

No Other Woman: No Other Concert.

Aside from Christine Reyes and the über hunky Derek Ramsey, Anne had a slew of super entertaining guests. Among them was one of my favorites:

The Unkabogable, Vice Ganda!

Seriously one of the most engaging and entertaining performers!

Another of Anne's guests was the goosebump-inducing Sarah Geronimo. Seriously, I was so in awe of her vocal chops that I couldn't take my eyes (and ears) off of her for a second to take a picture.

The Annebisyosa concert was definitely a success—tickets were sold out and Araneta was FULL!

Here was a woman who has dreamt of performing in her very own concert despite the knowledge that she couldn't really sing. Anne pulled off her concert with fun and a slight self-deprecating humor that adds to her charm as the newly-dubbed Concert Sweetheart.

In Anne's words: "Dreams do come true."

I was inspired.

*********

I love to sing and I love to perform.

When I was in college, I auditioned for the Hamilton College Buffers—an all-male a cappella group. It was pretty much real-life Glee. My four years as a Buffer were four of the best and most memorable of my life yet. I love those guys with all my heart.

During a Buffer's senior year, he is given a chance to pick his own song to perform: The Senior Solo.

Choosing a Senior Solo is a difficult matter. It is usually the song that represents you, the song that Hamilton students will remember you by.

As a boy who looks like a girl who like boys that likes girls, it is almost inevitable that people begin to speculate about your, uhmm, history. This is why I decided on the song:

Something to Talk About by Bonnie Raitt

Real-life Warblers, right?!

Imagine: A real-life Transgender on Glee... Aaaah, that'll be the day! Not gonna lie, I often fantasize about being a cast member.

*********

About a year ago, I felt a similar need to get the LifeTrack series started. There was one big problem. I am quite technologically challenged. I had no idea how to work my webcam... So I ended up downloading a program that allowed me to capture videos. This was the result of that first attempt:

After finding that it worked, I got excited and almost immediately started thinking about what the first song in the series should be. As I started preparing, another twist of fate: the program I installed was only a tester. I could only continue using it if I purchased the actual program. Blech. Lifetrack series = postponed.

*********

Fast forward to last month.

I was walking around the house and noticed my sister taking photos with her friends on her laptop. "How did you do that!?" I exclaim. "Uh... It's so easy," she replies. After a quick tutorial, I immediately hopped on my bed, and tested it out.

I was still in my sleeping clothes as I waited to see if the file saved. It worked. Then I waited excitedly to see if the video was uploaded to YouTube. It did. Here it is.

Quick Sample of Someone Like You by Adele 

So, the webcam works.

The LifeTrack series has officially begun.

And you best believe that the LifeTrack series will continue.

Stay tuned!

♥

Thanks to my friend Sam for putting the Buffers Video together. Click here for his YouTube page.
And you can click here for my YouTube page.
Also, I may have borrowed some of the Annebisyosa pics from Tim Yap's Twitter. Thanks Tim!

An Ode to Twins, Love and Vincent Malloy

TWINS

LOVE

VINCENT MALLOY

In lieu of offering a traditional speech,

I offer a poem today by this beach.

My name is Geo, from the side of the bride.

Here's my attempt to share what I feel inside.

But before I begin, if you would all please,

I'd like to give a toast to Diego and Eloise

*********

*********

This story begins with Vincent Malloy,

A different and oft misunderstood boy.

See, Eloise feels this Tim Burton connection.

Even now as her 'single' life has brought down its curtains.

Though we've know each other for just a relatively short time,

We are Twins in spirit, one's reason to the other's rhyme.

Our similar souls shared in two separate entities.

And the ways we differ are absolutely complimentary.

I, Lady GaGa, and she, Vincent Malloy.

Of course I'm the girl and she is the boy!

A Twinstant Soul Connection—we immediately knew,

But there's another thing we know that is equally true:

There exists another connection, different but the same,

And we often call it by many different names.

The One. My All. The Love of My Life.

A Man. A Woman. A Husband and Wife.

In laughter and tears, Iwi and I have been through a lot,

But Diego will be there in ways that I simply cannot.

It's in the way he's always with her without being right there.

It's in how we all know he loves her that makes her care—

About the future and grown-up things that Twins don't always consider.

It's in how she absolutely loves him whether he's with or not with her.

If we were made Twins to the core.

They were made FOR each other. 

Now that's for sure.

I can happily say goodbye to Eloise this time,

Because I have faith that Diego is every reason to her rhymes.

Their One. Their All. The Loves of Each Other's Lives.

Her Man. His Woman. A Husband and Wife.

And as this beautiful day has unfurled.

It is clear that Diego is the boy to Iwi's girl.

It seems my poem has reached its very last part.

I'd now like to present a song of when Diego opened Eloise's heart.

Image of Vincent Malloy from: http://lhommenaif.blogspot.com/2005/06/vincent-malloy-tiene-siete-aos.html

For the Vincent Malloy short movie by Tim Burton click here.
Official music Video of Head Over Feet click here.
For my YouTube page click here.







Next up—Chapter 6: The Reception





<3

LifeTrack: MOMOLicious - Def!

We Filipinos love borrowing, using and coming up with euphemisms and acronyms for just about everything—that includes relationships.

Here's a few:

MU

Mutual Understanding

A kind of unspoken agreement that the other is spoken for without the actual designation of 'going steady'

"Are Bill and Sookie going out?"

 "Nope. It's just an MU..."

HH

Holding Hands.

"Oh em gee. Cute! I saw Bill and Sookie this afternoon at the mall—they were HH!!!"

HHNPSSP

Holding Hands Na Pa-Sway-Sway Pa (Holding Hands and Swaying Them Too)

"Crap. Well, I saw Bill with Portia... And they were HHNPSSP!!!"

LQ

Lovers' Quarrel

"Geez. Sookie and Bill are gonna have an LQ..."

FUBU

F*ck Buddies

"Yeah, grrl, I heard Bill and Portia are FUBUs..."

MOMOL (My new fave term)

Make-out Make-out Lang (Make-Out only)

Could be used on several levels. Lovers, friends, strangers can MOMOL. Usually used to defend oneself when accused of going too far with someone zexually.

"Oh really? I heard it was just MOMOL..."

I'm sure that a plethora of words and phrases and acronyms are out there, but for the sake of this post, we are going to focus on MOMOL.

Earlier this week Manila-based DJ Mars Miranda decided to not only record his set, but to post it for free download, too:

MOMOL NOMNOM

There's something onomatopoeic about MOMOL. It reminds me of NOMNOM which kind of makes me think of people eating each others' faces—and the 'L' sound makes me think that tongue is definitely involved.

Mmm...Om...Mmmm....MOMOLLLL.

To download DJ Mars Miranda's playlist, click here. You will be redirected to the tatted and talented Ces Olondriz' blog (who also whipped up the nifty cover art).

Also, inspired by this Mixtape, T3 tweeted me a another link. Click here to check out another MOMOL playlist. It's called "Sexify" =)

And what does DJ Mars have to say about his mix?

"It's free—and so is making MOMOL."



It's the weekend everybody—MOMOL with care!





Thanks to DJ Mars Miranda for sharing his Mix, to Ces Olondriz for her Cover Art, and to T3 for sharing her friend's playlist.