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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TMX 11.29.08: Best. Experience. Ever.

When the invite said “Luck’s on Your Side,” the organizers of The Marlboro Experience (TMX) were dead serious. They made sure the participants were treated like VIPs: from the choice of a convening area (M Cafe in Greenbelt 2), dressed-up F150 transports, police escorts on the highway (man, I can sure get used with those), welcome committee wave, tour proper (with iPods as guide), the food, adrenaline pumping activities, and contest prizes because you can never go wrong with premium Ducati/Ferrari Gear (TM) and Marlboro (TM) items. (more…)

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Fake Adidas Pilipinas track jackets from the Internet

The Philippine-Flag-design inspired Adidas Track Jacket has been decommissioned for a reason so it came as a great surprise when ads on sulit.com and several other similar sites came out of this one seller offering a number (with sizes, mind you) going for the same hefty price tag. What? No mark-up considering its rarity? Hmmm…. somthing’s amis.

Would you pay P4,500.00 for a jacket that you find upon close inspection to be fake? What if I didn’t know how to tell the difference? What if I hadn’t tried wearing an original once before? What if I was too excited to pay close attention?

Irvin and I were supposed to get two, one for each of us, from this dude who for this post we’ll name “Koya.” In August, while Irvin is in the US, he requested his friend (uuuuuy!) Samie to get in touch with me so we both can meet up with this Koya character to bind the purchase. I was exited because I wanted to get one badly for the longest time. It was a good thing that Koya was confident enough to let me eye the merchandise before making me pay for them. Originally, the seller wanted to meet me along the Enterprise walkway at 6PM, a busy time on a not-so-well-lit place. I objected because not only would I like to see the jacket, I also wanted to try it on. After some more haggling via SMS, we agreed to reset the meet at an earlier different date. 

We met a day prior that of the original rendezvous at the ground floor of his work place in one of the buildings along Ayala. The moment I took the jacket out of it’s plastic covering, it already felt wrong. I tried it on, looked at my reflection from the mirror-like outer finish of the ground floor elevator door (LOLOLOLOLOL, I mentioned elevator), and saw a ghastly formed jacket nobody in their right mind would pay P500 for.

It felt cheap.

I told Koya my observation which he naturally defended. He said his supplier also claimed its authenticity and that we were all “victims” in this. 

I told Koya I’m sorry but I won’t get one. Samie, on the other hand, said she’ll take Irvin’s despite all of this because they had already been paid in advance, fearing that she can’t anymore demand for a refund. The next day, after finding out what happened, Irvin contacted Koya saying he will be sending Samie over to return the jacket and that he will be asking for his money back. Koya obliged knowing full well that a lot of people would still kill to get one, anyway.

We nearly got conned and as vengeance, here are photos showing details of the fake jacket. I took these before Samie returned what she got for Irvin.

It’s payback time (insert evil laugh here). We all should not patronize this way of doing business. As your reference, here are clear photos of the fake marchandise for you to look at. Buying them will probably make you want to kick yourself in the face because they are not worth the price tag of the original.

Read Irvin’s post regarding his experience here (with actual links where the fakes are being sold on the internet. SURE WIN!!!).

Please spread the word. Be warned. Don’t get conned!

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