The obligatory gush post after a show



Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm being forced to gush. It's just that I don't feel like writing about it. But I reeeeally loved the Death Cab for Cutie/Mates of State show on Monday, and I have to blog about it now, while the feeling's fresh.



I met up with Mikey, Quark, Lia, Marie and Steph - friends from college, some of whom I haven't seen in two years - at Bowery Ballroom. I'd been waiting outside for an hour. The last two college kids who were waiting with me had just scored tickets from a scalper. One anxiously asked, "Is it 21 to enter?" "18," I said, trying my best to sound reassuring. I'm usually quite impatient, and it was a bit cold, and I'd contemplated just dropping everything and going home, but I owed Mikey my ticket, and I've never seen Death Cab ever, or been to a show (my friends here are not the show-watching variety), and I haven't seen those guys in a long time. It was a relief to finally see them walking towards Bowery.



We went in, shed our outerwear (ah, heat, finally), and made our way towards the stage. In a few minutes, Kori and Jason of Mates of State came out and started playing. The first time I heard Mates of State (it was What I Could Stand For), I absolutely loved them. And then I heard A Duel Will Settle This, and liked them a little less. So I never bought any of their albums, just downloaded some MP3s and kind of shoved them to the back of my mind. Well, the other night they did both songs and it was gorgeous. Now I think Duel is amazing. Quark said of the three or so times he's seen Mates of State, that was the first time they did the "It's autumn, love" part in What I Could. During a break in a song or a particularly tricky part, Kori and Jason would look at each other, and they'd be perfectly in synch.



Ben Gibbard was standing in the wings during Mates of State's set. After the last song, the guys from Death Cab brought out their instruments and almost unceremoniously started playing "A Movie Script Ending" and then right after, "We Laugh Indoors." My friends and I let out a happy whoop. We'd been expecting mostly songs from the new album, Transatlanticism. The Photo Album is my personal favorite. It was the CD I constantly played at night, just before going to sleep, when I first moved to New York. They did play most of the songs from Transatlanticism, (or was it all? I don't know, there were so many) but also a couple of songs from each album. The girls (and there were a lot, a number of whom were in love with Ben Gibbard. Including yours truly.) kept calling out "405!" and Chris Walla kept saying "later, later." Quark and Mikey shouted out, "Company calls!!!" And what do you know, they played Company Calls next. And then Mikey shouted, "Company calls epilogue!" The band pretended not to hear him.



Ben and Chris' witty banter elicited kilig (giddy) giggles from the girls. Can't help it, they're funny. They kept picking on a guy who'd been to their show at the Bowery the previous day. Marie, who'd been to the Irving show (on the 22nd) said (of Ben), "Mahal ko siya. Mahal na mahal ko siya. (I love him, I love him very much)" They played a long, satisfying set. Long, because of the heels I was wearing (hey, I came straight from work), and satisfying, because they played probably more than 20 songs. Ben, Chris and Nick Harmer kept switching instruments. For the encore, they played 405 with two basses. Lovely. At the end of their last song, the new drummer Jason threw his drum stick into the crowd and the girls shrieked while alert Mikey caught it.



Afterwards, we hung around while my friends talked to Kori, Chris, Versus'/[+/-] James Baluyut (who seemed nice and down-to-earth) and the guy from Aden. Pictures were snapped, CDs handed over, and phone numbers exchanged. I mostly hung back because of a serious case of dyahe (shy, embarrassed, apprehensive). I did get Chris to sign my CD. I still cringe at the thought.



Outside, while waiting for Ben, we marvelled at the contrast between Death Cab's huge, swanky tour bus and Mates of State's van. It took a few minutes for Kori and Jason to load their instruments into the van while roadies got ready to load bulky equipment into the enormous bus. Zoom in on Jason in the van's driver's seat consulting a huge roadmap. Finally, Ben came out with a huge pizza box and Mikey, Marie, and Quark had their pictures taken with an extremely talented pizza delivery guy while Steph and I hung back.



Lia invited me to Quark's birthday/screening at The Den of Cin the next day. I haven't seen Keka and I felt guilty because I forgot to greet Quark the previous day, so I went. Marie and Steph were there, but I felt a bit out of place among the film school/artsy people. It's funny; I can't even say a complete sentence in Tagalog anymore. My tongue keeps wanting to speak Ilonggo or English. I think in Ilonggo, which I translate into English, and then I speak Tagalog, or at least I try to. It is a strange and circuitous path, and worsens my already bad conversational skills. Start a conversation with me, and I can kill it in a word, like a twisted Name That Tune game. James Baluyut came (he's such a nice guy) and I thought of asking him to sit with us because he was standing alone by the staircase, but he doesn't know me, so I didn't. Thankfully, Marie did.



I loved Keka. It was a terrible copy as it's not out on DVD yet, it's only been released recently. But it was unlike your typical Filipino movie. It was subtitled (Steph said Lia typed up the subtitles, aww), but I thought the dialogue sounded much better in Tagalog. I thought it was groundbreaking in that it appealed to a wide demographic. You have the fans of the individual actors, the people who'd watch it for the love story, the people who'd watch it for the comedy (casting Vhong Navarro was a great idea), the people who'd watch it for the blood and violence (the opening scene already had a dead body in it), the people who'd watch it for the quirky shots and sequences, and Quark's legion of friends. It's also told in the point of view of two people, one of which would be the villain in more conventional flicks. But it works. You find yourself rooting for a four-time murderer. Having seen Lost in Translation not too long ago, one scene in Keka reminded me of the scene where Scarlett Johansson walks in the middle of a crowded street in Japan. In this scene, it's Katya Santos walking in the middle of a crowd in Manila. Eery, no? Two great minds on different continents coming up with a similar shot at almost the same time. Made me miss the Philippines all of a sudden.



{New Year, Death Cab for Cutie}

It's autumn, love



What with Elliott Smith's death and the Yankees' loss (although I didn't know it then), it seems like a pretty good week to be indoors snuggled in the couch in pajamas with one's poison of choice (mine is coffee), but yesterday found me in the city. I woke up early for a morning jog with my cousins but my evil sister left me standing at the bus stop (I thought we were meeting up there). So I ditched them and went to the city. I bought tickets to the 12:00 Kill Bill at Loew's and then went to Virgin to kill time. At the theater, there were only about six other people and during the lulls in the commercials, I could practically hear myself chewing my Raisinets. After the movie, I thought of going to a show as the TKTS booth was just about to open, but I didn't want to miss the Yankees game so I head to 34th (the Gap, H&M [which has an 80s theme going on], Macy's, Aldo, Ann Taylor, the works). I think this is the first time I went around the city by myself. It's refreshing shopping without anyone in tow. Unfortunately, one is also much more prone to getting distracted by pretty shiny things so I didn't have enough time for Soho. On the train home, I thought of getting off at Canal for some yummy wonton soup, but I didn't want to risk missing the game. The cousins invited me to dinner and the game at their house, but I opted to stay home, too tired and not really in want of anybody's company.



The Yankees played an okay game, the Marlins were just... better. After Beckett tagged Posada and as the Marlins were starting to realize that they had won the series, the stadium itself was eerily quiet. We were just so sure we were going to win, weren't we? You have to hand it to them though, winning in six on the other team's turf. Bummer. Erm, I can't believe I'm talking sports.



Sigh. At least I'm watching the Death Cab/Mates of State show tomorrow yipee!



{What I Could Stand For, Mates of State}

By this river



I don't know but lately, for the past three days, I can't seem to get Brian Eno's By This River out of my head. I hated it the first time I heard it (down, down, down, ever falling down...) but now it just seems appropriate for my general mood.



By This River



Here we are stuck by this river

You and I underneath a sky

That's ever falling down down down

Ever falling down





Through the day as if on an ocean

Waiting here always failing to remember

Why we came came came

I wonder why we came





You talk to me as if from a distance

And I reply with impressions chosen

From another time time time

From another time.

Staten Island Ferry Accident Leaves 10 Dead

At Least 34 People Are Injured

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN, AP





NEW YORK (Oct. 15) - A Staten Island ferry slammed into a pier as it was docking Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, tearing off some victims' limbs and reducing the front of the mighty vessel to a shattered mass of wood, glass and steel. At least 34 people were injured.



The ferry pilot, responsible for docking the vessel, fled the scene immediately after the crash, went to his Staten Island home and attempted suicide by slitting his wrists and shooting himself with a pellet gun, a police official told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. The pilot was rushed to the same hospital as many of the victims and underwent surgery.



After interviewing another crew member, authorities began investigating whether the pilot was asleep at the wheel as the boat approached land, a law enforcement source told the AP.



The 310-foot ferry, carrying about 1,500 passengers, plowed into the enormous wooden pilings on the Staten Island end of its run from Manhattan, ripping a giant hole in the three-level, bright-orange vessel.



from AOL news

Friendstering



Friendster is the new blog. Even Pisay is on friendster! Like any new trend, everyone in the Philippines is catching on fast to this online networking tool that was supposed to be some kind of dating service. It's fascinating to discover college, high school and even grade school friends. It's also quite addicting, hence the not updating blog and not answering emails.



Aside from friend-hopping, I've also been oscillating between semi-consciousness and consciousness this past week. Had a molar removed last Friday, called in sick, was greatly disappointed by cab-fetching failures so decided to take the train. Unfortunately, the nurse had removed the gauze I was chewing on and, oh yes, also absorbing the blood from the wound. So I may have freaked out a cab driver and a passenger or two. I truly tried to avoid meeting glances from tourists and the like but I thought it would be too weird and unkind not to answer questions or just hop in a cab without telling the driver my destination. You know how your mouth gets all blue or green or some other ridiculous color when you eat this particular kind of candy, it was kind of like that, only red, and it was real blood. The long week-end was spent partly in bed, partly over the sink. I did get to watch Y Tu Mama in between retching. When I went back to work on Tuesday, I stupidly took a damn painkiller (you know, just in case) on an empty stomach. I suppose I was still in some kind of daze or whatever excuse sounds best. (I swear, sometimes I can actually imagine my brain cells dying.) At 9:20, I started turning green. By 11:00, I just couldn't wing it anymore and went up to medical to lie down. My boss called an hour later, and I felt guilty so I went back to my desk only to feel worse. My co-worker brought me soup and ginger ale for lunch, and I tried to feel better to no avail. So I decided to tell my boss I'd like to go home, please. Apparently, I couldn't just leave during work hours without a note from the nurse, so I had to go back up. And oh boy, what a jolly little ride that was on the escalator. The nurse said she couldn't let me go home because I wasn't running a fever or anything like that. Obviously, it didn't matter that I literally felt the room spinning, or that I felt like puking my guts out. She gave me ginger tea and ginger candy and lectured me about the evils of barbiturates and the merits of the Bartt diet. She probably meant well, but I could barely make out what she was saying. I drank so much ginger tea that just as I looked around for the lavatory, I had to run towards it hand over mouth. Of course, afterwards, she called me and prepared to write a note. I said, "Oh you know what, I just threw up and anyway, it's already 3:30, I might as well finish the day."



{Stay Six, Hey Mercedes}

Behold



In addition to buying shoes and clothes for every season, why do women have to buy purses to boot? Why can they never leave the house without a purse? What IS inside those little bags, anyway? Men, behold.



{Say It Ain't So, Juliana Hatfield (covering Weezer)}