Losing to Retail Therapy: A Tale of Awesome. In 2D.

“Depression” can be your bestest, most dependable, and at-hand’s-reach convenient reason to splurge. Use it and suddenly, like magic, everybody empathizes and tells you to “go on ahead and heal” with an assuring smile on their faces. It’s THAT fail safe. As a certified genius, I’m entitled to it more often than the average joe (because I say so)!

This month alone, I got shirts and ties, a video card, and just a while ago, something that I’ve been putting off buying for the longest time and by “the longest time,” I mean 48 hours. In Fritz parlance, 48 hours may translate to a decade or two, give or take a year, of mental anguish.

In hard times like this, thinking about a purchase is a must moreso when the “want” you are about to buy is quite costly. We must think all purchases through. No joke! Thankfully, I’ve developed something to curb impulse buying. The secret is perfecting a discipline whose core component is “great hatred for credit cards.” It took me years, I tell you, to ace it. In fact, I now live and breathe this mantra.

Plastics: they kill the environment.

I haven’t posted anything I’ve fritzparazzied in a while because, well, there’s nothing to shoot. Now, that’s changed. Please click on the photos for a larger image.

As sort of a sneak peek of my spanking new Gorillaz CMYK Vinyl set made by kidrobot, I present to you photos I took of one of the four members of Gorillaz. On lead vocals, here’s Stuart Pot aka 2D. All right reserved LOL and taken using *gasps* a Nokia N82 just like old times.

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Photos and a LOL Vid (No to Con-Ass Ayala Rally)

Thirty minutes after my first video stream, the mobile vibrated a the “Low Battery” prompt. Bummed me out since I went out on full bat from work *sighs*. In my next vidcasts, I’d remember to either to bring a spare (fully-charged) battery or have the phone plugged in somewhere while streaming. Per plurk buddy aajao, “not bad for an initial broadcast.” My thanks to you and those who had to bear with the stream. We had to start testing this technology out on something (no, a scandal vid is out of the question). ANC did a live coverage which I only later on found out. Better quality and more “real time,” since qik.com gave me a 13-minute lag at some point during my broadcast *pfffft*.

Over all, the rally was peaceful. Police were rounding the periphery for both the safety of the surrounding establishments and, most importantly, the rallyists which I found to be a good thing. I felt more secure with them around, really. News said 6,000 people attended. I’d have to agree with this statement, though:

“Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general Renato Reyes Jr. said the crowd peaked at between 13,000 to 15,000” – from Inquirer.net

Some of people holding office within the Ayala circuit would pass by, linger some, and give a thumbs up gesture to people on the street before leaving for their homes. Some, like several of my colleagues at work, stayed on. I’d say this was bigger than the previous No to ChaCha rally held on the same venue, from the POV of someone who was apparently present in both events (i.e. ME).

The thing that caught more of our attention while we were heading out was this tarpaulin laid down on one side of the street where faces of the Congressmen who said “Yay” to ConAss were printed and shown. Bystanders were free to step on their “favorite” Congressmen’s faces. Some expressed their disgust by doing, um, “creative” things on the photos. Please watch the 3-minute video below to know what I mean.
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Recent Fritzparazzi ^TM shots of Caleruaga

Getting married way down south is a chore to pull off (logistics wise) moreso when (I’ve heard) going home to, say, Las Piñas on a weekday could take comuters and private car owners up to 4 hours on the road during the past week. That’s owing to the Skyway being extended to Alabang plus the heavy rains. it is in times like these that I’m glad I’m living near where I work.

Still, the Caleruega Church (or is it a chapel?) in Nasugbu, Batangas remains a popular venue for weddings even for those who do not live anywhere near Tagaytay. I’ve college friends who flew in their relatives from Iloilo and Surigao for a Caleruega wedding. Ah, the torture! Those who are lucky to have witnessed a Caleruega wedding, though (granting the weather cooperates), would recount how it’s so much worth their while to share the moment with friends who chose to get married on that church atop of that hill, the long drive aside.

I have recently been in one, my fourth, for the wedding of friends Carlo and Cay. They won’t be in the photos that I’ll be showing below, but here’s their wedding video as shown during the reception,for those who are curious.

Since I was tasked to be one of the groom’s men who luckily had absolutely no role to do during and after the wedding ceremony, I made use of my time by taking shots of the church, inside and out. Photos taken using the Nokia N82 camphone (surprise, surprise. Not! LOL).

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Straight out of the N82 Camera: Hellraiser

I’ve long believed and preached that post-processing photos off a camera is a necessary evil.  That Adobe Photoshop was made to be every photographer’s bestest friend.

Not today, though. Not with this set.

I got inspired by Helga and her SOOC upload today in flickr that instead of going full edit berserk on this set, I’d show my shots as is. No post-processing (just resizing). No digital image magickry. Everything’s “straight out of the camera.” Make that straight out of the Nokia N82 camera (you may go to each of the photo’s page on flickr and check the exif data and see for yourself). The result: no angry purists. (more…)

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Shooting “Batman on Gargoyle” by Keiji Iwakura

Something I never thought I’d like THAT much was shoot in black and white but as my subject’s colors got washed out by my pseudo lighting, I figured, the only way to not expose the colors is to not shoot in color. Thus, this set. (more…)

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The Cheapest Freshly Brewed Coffee Yet

They still have this promo going on in select 7-Eleven branches for Midnight Blend, their new freshly brewed coffee offering. Any sized coffee (you may choose between small, medium, and large) can be yours at the low low price of P35 a cup. Surreal, right? Couldn’t believe it either. I thought the cashier that time was only coming on to me (schmeckshually) when she said I can opt to get the bigger cup if I was up for that since I’ll still be paying the same amount anyway. When she did not follow her statement through with a “kindat sabay kagat labi,” I dismissed this presumption as a delusion. Hers, not mine. Saw what I did there? I bet you got confused with my logic as much as I did. Hah! (more…)

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